Temporal Displacement
by Shadowdib
Summary: It turns out that fiddling with the Voot's inner controls is a bad idea, and Twix gets sent back in time. Now, it's just a matter of getting home without having to help one of her dads murder the other. Sequel to Adventures in Parenthood.
1. Back to the Past

A/N: This fic is a sequel to 'Adventures In Parenthood', but if you aren't into pregnancy fic, that's okay- the fic pretty much ended with her as a baby, so all you really need to know is that she's a Zadr fankid. (If it doesn't squick you out, though, I encourage you to check it out, I'm pretty proud of it.) I'm tagging this fic as Zadr because that's where Twix came from and she'll be mentioning it, but this fic takes place closer to canon so it's more as a precaution. (I haven't decided if florpus is canon here but I'm leaning on 'yes but happened slightly differently as this is more show-inspired'.)

The cover is by definitely-not-an-alien.

Anyway! I've fussed over this fic a lot and I know there are some high expectations after how absurdly well-viewed AiP got on ao3, so fingers crossed it isn't a complete quality nosedive since it's pretty different. And awaaaaay we go!

* * *

Nebula "Twix" Membrane was having a very not good day.

She'd had plenty of not-good days, of course, thankfully many before she was old enough to remember, but this one was _certainly_ up there as she woke up with rope around her arms and torso, trussed up like a hog for slaughter.

Well, _ that _didn't give her much confidence.

Okay, check. Was she alive? Pretty sure, or a close facsimile to it. Were all her limbs attached? Yep, all eight fingers and six toes accounted for.

"I'm going to ask you again." The old couch she was settled on squeaked as she turned to see- her dad. He had glasses too big for his head, and a gun pointed at her face. She squeaked along with the ancient springs as she tried to scoot away and fell flat on her back. What was he- oh. Right. Time travel. She was never touching the Voot's inner mechanics as long as she lived.

Man, those knots were _tight. _

"Ask me what? I forgot! _ Because you knocked me out!" _Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth. _ Don't panic if you're in a bad situation, _ came a voice that came with the memory of dewy grass under her knees and the scent of sap and dirt_. Nothing gets fixed but you might end up dead. _ It had been delivered while applying gauze to her arms.

Thanks, the future dad that wasn't aiming a weapon at her. You're the best.

It had started simply enough. Combining a warp drive that was already in the Voot to try and jump further into space with the leftover bits of something called a space-time replacement device that Zim had been fiddling with? Well, mechanics weren't her strongest suit, but she'd been toddling around mechanical geniuses since she was born, and besides, the computer helped! Okay, he mostly just made snarky remarks, but he made sure she wasn't going to blow herself up when she slammed the gas to test it when both of her parents were out of the house, and that counted for something, right? Yeah, it did. Besides, it was just how he showed he cared.

Boy, that kickback, though- the roof of the house retracted, and a colorful blossom had erupted, before throwing her directly into it as she scrabbled at the controls. Getting to drive on moon trips was nothing compared to this, with the Voot being thrown back and forth like it was in a blender making Twix puree.

She'd crashed in the backyard of Grandpa's house, eating more dirt than even _she _was comfortable with, and with a Voot that was twice as on fire as usual after a surprise landing. Luckily, the hose was in the same place as it always was, but _unluckily, _some parts had been banged up badly enough that they needed to be replaced, and something had bashed the back of her head hard enough to leave a bruise. It was lucky that her overalls were made of something from Grandpa's lab, or they would have probably been ripped up in the crash.

She was grounded. If she couldn't fix this, probably for a _ month. _ A whole month! She'd huffed, tried to pull back her hair that had been ripped out of its ponytail, realized that the scrunchie had been snapped at some point, and wondered what else the day had to throw at her.

After heading to the basement for said replacement parts, Twix fumbled in her overalls for her taser at a creak from the stairs, digging herself out from being elbow-deep in a toolbox as the metal inside rattled around.

"What are you and what are you doing here?" The voice was unmistakable as she spat hair out of her mouth, and the flashlight dropped on the stairs created an eerie backlight. It turned out that 'else' was Dad twelve years younger. Wormholes were _weird. _He was holding a broom. A _ broom._

Maybe that debris had hit her head harder than she'd thought. She would have laughed if she wasn't busy coughing with whatever the rough approximation of her lungs were. How was it so _dusty? _

"I can explain, Da-Dib! Dib, definitely Dib."

"Let's hear it, then. And make it good- I have protections against all kinds of paranormal creatures scattered around this lab. And there's a defense system that'll turn you to goop! It's not pretty. At all."

"I was- er…" Dangit, this was going to be difficult to put into words, wasn't it? "Wait, how old _ are _you?" It was May, from the calendar in the corner she'd found and admired the robot on, although that could just have not been touched in a while...

"That's classified information!" He kicked the flashlight so it spun around, setting a foot on top of it so he could get a good look at her face before squinting. "What's with the big goggles?"

"They're prescription!" The answer rolled off her tongue, practiced as anything, but he just let the answer stew in skeptical silence. She tugged at her turtleneck, dirty nails curled into the fabric. "I'm- uh, I'm just a big fan of Professor Membrane?" She flashed a nervous grin.

"Dad has autograph signings pretty often, why not go to one of those? Unless you're a stalker. You wanna see what happened to the _last _guy that broke in looking for souvenirs? There wasn't much left except for his hair and a big pile of tuna. Don't ask. Hoo boy, _ that _ was gross to mop up." He took a step down, sending the flashlight spinning and casting shadows over her again before he flicked the light switch on. "Oh, wow, you look _terrible. _Are you a zombie? You're pretty eloquent for one."

"No, I'm not a zombie. I get that a lot though, thanks for pointing it out." It really _was _freaky, how same-y his voice sounded. He must have hit puberty early in the vocal department. Or maybe the clone thing meant that- oh, he was reaching for a gun in a hidden compartment in the wall. It had the ML logo on it and everything.

That was significantly less funny than the broom was.

"Alright, not a zombie. You'd be attacking me if you were anyway. I still need an answer- I'm a good shot, you know! How did you get in?"

"The back door."

"We lock it every night. Double-lock it, actually." With the lights on, she could see him raising an eyebrow.

"I- picked the lock?"

"It's DNA-encoded. You'd have to break the door down. I would have seen that when I walked in." His finger twitched towards the trigger.

"I-" Think, think! "I-"

"What are you, a failed clone of Dad or something? You kind of look like it, just a girl. You _ are _a girl, right?"

"Of course I am!" She huffed, digging around in her pocket. Did she not have it? Her taser was as much a part of her as her antennae were… it _better _not have fried in the crash. "At least so far..."

"What, you don't know?"

"It's a- heeeeey, weren't we talking about how I got in?" She forced up a grin. Perfect change of subject, yes.

Dib's grip tightened on the gun. "We were. So, how, mystery girl?"

"You won't believe me."

He waved the barrel of the gun, pointing it up at her face.

"Try me."

"I'm a fan of- you? Not him, you, yeah!" He always liked it when he got compliments, although to be fair most of the time hers came from genuine admiration. Nobody else could drop a werewolf the way he could.

"You're not very confident." Dib dropped the barrel of the gun, but only slightly. "So you're definitely lying _ and _definitely just trying to break in, which means you're either from some creature I ticked off or Zim trying-"

"Zim's here? Where?" Twix craned her neck. Maybe he can help, the parts would come from home anyway, wouldn't they, why hadn't she thought of that first? Unfortunately, that was when Dib took a step forward to press the gun against her chest.

"What do you know about him?"

"Oh, lots and lots of things! He's great at-" She froze. Wait. Waitwaitwait.

They used to not get along. How had she- that was what half her bedtime stories were, them trying to kill each other! And- and-

_ "You were terrible when we met." _

_ Dib grinned, flicking an antenna to Zim's irritated hiss. "You were an alien trying to destroy the world, I had the right. But yeah, I was a dick as a kid. Twix, if you ever find footage of me between the ages of eight and fourteen, burn it." _

"He's, er… great at blowing things up?"

"Yeah, he is, but what was with the hesitation- and how do you know him? I would have recognized you if you went to our skool."

She tried to take a step back, but was pinned against a wall. Between a gun and a hard place. Well, this was just peachy. "I know he's… evil? And you're trying to stop him? And I-"

"That still doesn't explain how you got in. Only a Membrane should be able to get through the back door, and I was watching the front." The gun clicked again, and her chest burned- either some kind of preliminary to actually shooting her or her heart pumping itself too hard.

"I _ am _a Membrane!" She slapped a hand to her mouth. Bad, bad bad!

Dib rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and I'm a vampire. You're going to need to try harder than that."

"I'm a cousin?" Well, she was stuck with this now. Hopefully, he wouldn't react _too _badly.

"I don't have any relatives besides Dad."

"I'm from the future!"

A shock ran up her as the gun's energy pulsed through her chest, and then she felt nothing at all.

Which brought her back to now, rope around her arms and a very suspicious Dib-dad watching her every move. "How did you get in? Someone's tried to play that future trick on me before. It isn't working."

"It's not a trick! I really, really am your daughter from the future. I was messing with something and the machine broke and chucked me here, which isn't what I wanted it to do at _all. _ I just wanted to play with the space-time thingie! But now I need parts to fix it, and when I crashed in the backyard I thought 'hey, I'll just get them, Grandpa won't mind' and I could just grab them and go. And then I saw you, but my age. I'm twelve, you know. I'll be thirteen in seven months." She tried to grin again, shifting even as the rope bristled over the fabric. Maybe he wouldn't notice her teeth? Oh, who was she kidding, he noticed _everything, _ but this was a long shot anyway, why not pull out the stops? "Obviously, you were too smart for that."

"We're testing you. I can find out in an instant, and if you're lying to me..." He dropped the barrel of the gun but grabbed her wrist, yanking it up hard enough to make her wince through the rope. "What happened to your fingers?"

"An accident when I was three. Grandpa has some really good healing stuff in the future," she bluffed. He didn't question it, thank goodness, she was starting to sweat even more than she already had been, and that was a lot. She probably needed to start wearing more deodorant, actually…

He grabbed the rope, pulling her up and making her stumble after him as he dragged her over to some chair-like machine. Wow, he was strong for a kid her age! He must do a lot of training on his own- or at least was used to dragging someone or something around. Did he lift weights? No, that was dumb, he would have mentioned that, right? But if he was going around fighting monsters, that _had _to build up some- something was touching her, something was brushing her wrist that wasn't his sweaty hand. "What are you doing?"

He slid the rope up just enough to settle her wrists on the armrests, then tugged fabric straps tight over them and bent down to do the same to her ankles. "It'll analyze your DNA. I'll set it to check compatibility with mine. If you're really who you say you are, there's nothing to worry about."

"It's not going to shock me or anything, is it? Is it?" Twix tried to turn to see the machine better, but the straps were too strong. "Why do you even _have_ this in the basement?"

"Oh, it's just so Dad can do checkups without having to take us to the doctor. It also diagnoses the flu." Dib started flipping switches, and Twix yelped as the chair began to heat up. Geez, at home they just used a scanner!

"Is it supposed to be burning my butt?"

"Yeah, it does that," Dib muttered, typing something into the console next to the machine. She couldn't see it. It better not be anything to liquefy her organs, she wouldn't put it past Grandpa to have something like _that _in the basement.

"So, who's your mom, if you're my 'kid'?" He made air quotes in a sarcastic fashion, and she huffed.

"If I told you, that would really ruin the future, wouldn't it?"

"It must be someone close." He stood up, the chair spinning after he left it as he pinched her cheek. "Your skin is terrible, that kind of mutation happens a lot around here. I'm still not discounting- oh, it's done!" He leaned against the chair, but the wheels rolled forward and he scrambled before catching himself on the console proper. "It's _what? _"

"I told you, I'm not lying! Now, if you can untie me-"

"You really are…" He stared at the screen before a wide grin split his face. "You're actually telling the truth!"

"Why would I keep lying after you tied me up?" She raised one eyebrow. "That would be pretty dumb of- well, maybe not if I got in some weird and _worse_ way, but-"

"Focus! Tell me something." He snapped his fingers three times in a row. "Something only someone from the future would know."

Twix thought for a moment. "You keep hunting the paranormal. I've got good aim because you take me on hunts and you wanted to make sure I didn't blow my head off if I needed to shoot something. Uh… you've got a thing for cocoa shampoo whenever you shower? I borrow it a lot."

He slid the ropes off of her, setting his hands on her shoulders. They were clammy, but the smile on his face was so, so, so achingly familiar, and she could see her reflection in his glasses.

"What did you say your name was?"

"I don't think I- wouldn't that ruin everything? We're back to the mom question, and I don't want to-"

"Give me a nickname then, I'm not just going to call you 'kid' or something, that's weird."

She gnawed on her bottom lip. "Twix." Zim had always told her that was his name for her first, but it was nothing specifically irken… and besides, this was weird enough as it was, being called something wrong would just make it even _weirder. _

"What, like the candy bar?"

"You don't like it?" She crossed her arms, and he shook his head.

"Well, whatever, it works. Why not?" He narrowed his eyes. "But if I get any hint you're a trick, you're getting tied up again or worse, got it? Zim's pulled tricks like this before and I'm not falling for it again."

"You've got freckles on your upper arms. I bet _ he _doesn't know that, right?" Not yet, anyway. "You've changed shirts in front of me a few times. Three of them make a triangle."

He blinked at her. "Huh?"

"I'm trying to convince you to not tie me up again."

He thought for a moment. "I don't think he knows that? Usually, when he experiments on me he leaves my clothes on…" The grin returned, and he grabbed her wrist, heading for the stairs. "So, you know about Zim- tell me, what happens to him? Dissection? Making him live in a tube? Rewiring his brain so he thinks he's my pet or something? If I've got years, I bet I think of something _really_ good. If you're around, I _ had _to have defeated him! Or he takes over the world and I have an affair while fighting underground as a rebel..."

"I have to keep _ some _secrets." Her fingers curled, the nails that tipped into claws digging into her palms.

"Oh, come on! You're really keeping tight-lipped about my greatest enemy? Or ours- _ is _he still a threat when you're around? You said we worked together as a team- a real sidekick, wow!" He turned back to her as they entered the living room. "I bet if we teamed up we could take him down in this time, right here right now! Is that the kind of time loop that made you possible in the future?"

"I- wouldn't know." Man, he liked the sound of his own voice, even more a decade ago than he did nowadays. He talked a lot now- then? The future wouldn't be then, would it? Not that she'd minded. He almost always had something interesting to say. So did Zim, for that matter. And Tulip. And-

He snapped his fingers again, right in her face. "So is he still a threat or not?"

"He- still bothers you sometimes, but he's not much of a threat." Not a lie. Skirt along the truth and you'll be more believable. It had better be believable, he's staring at you, his eyes seem so much bigger behind his glasses now-

"We can change that, I bet," He sounded the words out slowly as if they'd just occurred to him, then smirked. "You and me, we'll be the best team there ever was! You said that I took you on expeditions, right? You ever shot anything?"

"I helped take down a werewolf and killed a vampire once. It wasn't the same _ night, _obviously, but-"

"Good enough! So how did you get here?"

"I stole the Voot Cruiser, but I need parts to fix it and go back home. I thought you might have them, but-"

"-But they're only in Zim's base, I get it." Dib puffed out his chest. "If there's one thing I'm good at, it's breaking into Zim's base. And sometimes he doesn't even catch me! If we put our heads together, we'll be able to get those parts and then stop him once and for all so I can get my dues in the present, and you don't have to worry about him in the future! We'll make a better future for both of us!"

She plastered a matching smile on her face, even as her guts tied into a twisty turny knot.

_ This _was going to be interesting.


	2. A Toast to Partnership

A/N: I realized that I didn't credit the idea- it originally came from Em, aka Fanart Anon! She sent a piece of art about the idea to me just a few weeks after AIP started, and I've been mulling over it since. I've been really excited to write this and it's coming out a lot of fun, so thank you. ;p

* * *

"You weren't kidding." Dib's eyes were wide as he stared over the shattered lavender windshield and the still-slightly-smoking parts scattered across the lawn. "Geez, you _flew_ this?"

"I was practicing!" she defended herself. "When I was- it was going to be a whole _thing_ when I turned thirteen, coming of "appropriate age to start driving it" and all that. All I have at home is the scooter, I didn't realize it was going to do a trick like _this._ I would have packed a camera if I'd known I was going back to the past. Or at least some better snacks." And a rope for her taser, for that matter.

Dib ran his fingers over the metal. "I've seen Zim in this a good few times… Tak's ship is fussy about letting me examine it, but even broken I could learn a lot about the tech." He crawled into the cockpit, experimentally spinning the wheel and wincing when it sent a shower of sparks his way. "How hard did you_ land?"_

She started counting on her fingers. "I'm going to say… a hundred miles an hour? It's time travel, the whole 'speed of matter' thing is sort of a moot point when you're careening through the void."

"Until you ram an alien ship into my lawn fast enough to burn up the grass, that is." Dib tugged at an exposed piece of windshield material, yelping as it cut into his skin before sticking his fingers in his mouth. He made a very loud sucking noise that reminded her of Gir. It was, strangely enough, the most comforting thing she'd experienced so far. "It's a good thing stuff blows up in our yard a lot, or Dad might be mad."

"My landing was fine! It was the _stopping_ that needed work, that's all." She folded her arms.

"I'll have to see what I can salvage. Are you much of a mechanic?" Dib picked up a tiny bobblehead irken, shaking it to watch the antennae flip around.

"Not much," she admitted. "I'm better with biology than tech, but I can help if I need to." She knew the Voot inside and out. Unfortunately, that didn't mean she knew how to put it back _together. _

"It looks like it's been modified some since I last saw it, so you probably will." He gave one last flick to the bobblehead before shoving it in his pocket and rummaging around in the backseat, legs kicking at the air like an upended beetle. "There's a bunch of scrap metal in opened boxes back here! It looks irken, this will _definitely_ be useful. Geez, you're lucky it didn't impale you in the crash."

"It hit my head, I guess I just have a thick skull."

"Right, I've dealt with enough head injuries to know that probably runs in the family," he muttered, just before her stomach started to growl. Dib looked up at that, and she gnawed on her lower lip.

"Is the toaster still next to the fridge?"

"So." Dib's chin was in his hands as he watched Twix eat with rapt fascination. "They still have toast in the future? You used the toaster just fine."

She swallowed. What kind of question was _that? _ "People were making toast out of bread since they started slicing it. Yeah, we still have toast."

"What about pizza?"

"We still have pizza too. I'm only from…" She started counting on her fingers but then realized that giving him a concrete timeline would be an absolutely _terrible_ idea. "About twenty years in the future."

"Twenty years… and you said you're twelve. Wait, does that mean you come around when I'm eighteen or nineteen?" He winced. "Geez, _that's_ going to suck. Am I at least out of high school?"

"I- think so? I was a baby. I don't remember much before the age of three, so don't ask."

"Aw man, no super-baby, then?" The table creaked as he leaned on it, and she realized that she could smell the leather of his coat even from a few feet away. Yikes. At least he had to go through decontamination at the lab and that helped keep him smelling nice enough at home. Mostly. He always had a musty dad-smell no matter what.

Then again, from what he'd told her, Grandpa wasn't home very often when he was little, and _his_ house didn't have a voice that could tell him what to do if he needed help.

It was strange, seeing her reflection in his glasses from straight across instead of from looking up. Something different lit his eyes, and it wasn't just the flickering of the bulb above them. It was the same manic energy that possessed him on a hunt, or when they all managed to cram into the Voot to fly out into space as a family.

Oh, right.

_She_ was the specimen right now, the wolf to track or the vampire to stake. The toast crumbled as her fingers curled into it, nails brushing the butter, and she licked at it the gooey mess on her fingertips before grabbing a wadded-up napkin to scrape away the crumbs, feeling suddenly gross.

"So!" He stood up, the chair creaking across the tile. "I'll show you my room. Unless you live here and know what it looks like? Although it would have changed, probably-"

"Let's go, I want to see how _much_ changed." She dumped her plate in the sink, and he grinned.

"All right!"

It wasn't really a lie, either. They'd thoroughly disinfected his room from top to bottom by the time she first saw it as a kid, and she'd always been curious about what it was like when he'd been- well, not only her age, but _unhindered_ by anything anyone thought of him. He was Dad now, and sure, she loved him, but how he acted when he was a Dib before a "Dad"… maybe this wouldn't be _that_ bad. A chance to get to play with him before he settled down. Zim was capable of dealing with him for years, and as long as she didn't let too much slip, it would be fine, right? Right! She could do this! All she had to do was not let him kill Papa, and he hadn't managed that in the years before she was born anyway...

They headed up the stairs. It was lined with portraits, some of Grandpa, some of Dib, some of Aunt Gaz, and a few that were a mix of the three. She muffled a snicker at one with Dib and Gaz of them making faces at the camera, and he looked back at her. "What?"

She pointed, and he perked up. "Oh, that one- Dad wanted us to take a photo for some press thing, but we were hopped up because we found the stash of Halloween candy Dad was going to give us to hand out. They had to reshoot it later and I got sick from all the sugar, but it was totally worth it. Gaz has a stomach of steel, I don't think it even phased her."

"You look happy." There weren't many pictures of him she'd seen at this age where he had a genuine smile. It was a nice change of pace from being grumpy, blurry, or with a straightjacket on.

"I was. Gaz was smiling in a few of them from something other than destroying people, and Dad must have liked the first shoot to get the pictures processed anyway. That, or it was non-refundable, but he never took the picture down either way." He shrugged.

"I guess I never noticed it. Maybe it got moved to storage." She tilted her head, hair falling over her eyes, and she grumbled, trying to pull it back with her hand. "Do you have any hair ties?"

Dib shook his head. "I've never seen Gaz use any, her hair's probably too short for it."

"Rubber bands, then? You've _got_ to have rubber bands. They're a terrible substitute, but I hate having my hair down."

"Oh, sure, I've got rubber bands!" Dib waved her into his room.

Or, to be more frank, the pile of clothes, loose papers, and miscellaneous junk that was _masquerading_ as a room. There wasn't even a- oh, the bed was just buried _under_ the miscellaneous junk. It also smelled like sweat, body spray, and various forms of uncategorizable grease. She could only compare it to the ball pit at Bloaty's that had a sign next to it with a cycling number of days since they last lost a child.

_"This_ is your room?"

"There's no need to clean it if it's just going to get dirty again." He knocked a pizza box off of his computer chair, bouncing a little as he dropped down on the cushion before rummaging around in the drawers. "Rubber bands, rubber- ah!" He tossed a box at her. "That should work, right?"

She opened it- they were bright green, the shade that said they would glow in the dark. She chose a thick one, careful not to tie her long antenna up with the hair. She'd made _that_ mistake too many times to do it casually anymore. It stung with the rubber, hair tugged from her scalp, but it was better than having it hanging loose and getting everywhere. After a moment's thought, she loosened it so it puffed out on the sides of her head and concealed her lack of ears.

He wheeled around on the chair. "So, I need some details about how you got here before we can send you back."

"I borrowed the Voot, and fiddled with the engines, mixing in some old junk. It was a time machine, considering it sent me back here." She ran her fingers around the buttons on her overalls. "I probably should have known from what it was labeled, but I didn't think it would _work. _Most of the old stuff doesn't."

"Borrowed. So in the future, you have access to it." Dib had produced a pen and pencil from somewhere and was starting to scribble down notes. "Either I defeat Zim, or I manage to steal his ship."

Twix shoved a pile of blankets off the bed, climbing up to sit- better it than the floor, which she was pretty sure hadn't seen a vacuum in years. She kind of wished she'd just landed at-

Home. Which should still be in the same place, with everything she needed. "What time is it?"

Dib spun around to check the computer. "It's five-thirty, why?"

She just had to stay until he fell asleep, then- but he'd mentioned the security, and getting disintevaporated would put a big fat wrench in getting to return home. Besides, the house wouldn't know her. Pooh. "Nothing."

"What time was it when you left?"

"Four, maybe? I wasn't looking at the clock."

"So you probably landed at the same time here, just twenty years in the past." He chewed on the end of his pen. "What month and day is it?"

"It's March- I know the sixth was Wednesday, uh…"

"It's March here too." He wrote that down, before doing a double-take as she tugged at the band of her goggles. "Hey, you said they were prescription. Is that a thing in the future? Do I wear goggles too?"

She shook her head. "Only when you need them for something you're working on, usually you have glasses."

"That's good, I don't like goggles," he said, and she stared at him. It took him about ten seconds to realize why, and he waved his hands, eyes wide. "They look good on _you,_ though! I'm not- it's fine, you're fine. We're fine."

Twix couldn't help a grin as he adjusted his own glasses, which had slipped when he had gestured around. At least he was still familiar, talking before he thought anything through and then rushing out an apology, often with something to placate her to convince her to not repeat it. She'd learned to swear younger than she could remember, and had gotten more pieces of candy than she could count because of it.

"So, you need to get back to your own time, preferably before too much time as passed."

"Right."

"Do you still go to the public skool? Would they notice you're missing?"

"May-" She snapped her mouth shut. "That's future information. I don't want to cause a time paradox." It would be terrible if she got home and everything was different. What if Tulip suddenly wasn't there in her class, or the grocery store was moved an extra block away? Or they lived on the moon or something!

He groaned, leaning back in the chair. "You're not going to tell me _anything? "_

"Nothing you don't strictly need."

"Why did you even tell me that you're my daughter, then? That just piqued my curiosity! It's at _maximum_ pique right now! I've never seen time travel work with a _person_ before."

"I panicked when you shoved a gun at my face!" She kicked at the arm of the chair, sending it spinning until he managed to grab his desk and steady himself. He shook his head like a dog shaking off water, brushing a hand over his scythe lock.

"Okay, fine, maybe you have a point. But!" He used his foot to roll the chair closer to her, leaning over her with such a big grin that she could practically see the bits of cereal he had for breakfast between the enamel. "But you're proof that I survive past my eighteenth birthday, and that Zim either doesn't win or I escape from him in some way. You have the Voot, so I beat him and take his ship, or we manage to steal it from him. It's probably better than Tak's anyway since hers hates me. I don't think Zim's has a personality, which means we can make it do whatever we want."

The bed creaked as Twix leaned back, Dib so close she could see the pores in his face. "Uh-huh, it doesn't really talk. It's just a matter of knowing how to steer it. I need to get it back into the sky to head home."

He pulled back. "Right! So, we need to get to the storage level of Zim's base. I've been down to the main lab, and the computer knows me well enough by now that we'll need to short it out and revert it to the more base AI that just obeys whoever talks to it. If I ditch skool on Monday morning, we'll have until lunch when Zim notices that I'm gone and comes back to the base to check if I'm there. I've still got one more pass before they call Dad." He tapped his pen against his notepad for emphasis. "He usually leaves the base at around 7:25, so we'll have four and a half to five hours depending on if he gets caught by the lunch monitor. The electroshock for trying to leave school premises early will slow him down."

"Oh, I _hate_ those." It wasn't like the skool got enough funding anyway, why funnel it into making her brain jig around in its skull? And all because she wanted to catch the squirrel with two heads that was outside the window, or get a sample of the flower that was trying to eat said squirrel's tail... a complete waste of resources, in her opinion.

"I know, right?" He scribbled something else down. "Anyway, they really mess with his Pak, so that gives us time if he gets caught. I think he's started using the vents again, though, so we can't count on that." He spun around, digging around in the drawer again, this time to pull out a piece of paper. Twix slid off the bed to walk over and examine it, leaning over Dib's shoulder. It was a map of the base, clearly handmade with pencil and pen running all over each other. Several marks were made with a highlighter, and others were smudged with presumably the oil from Dib's fingertips. Even as he smoothed it out now, bits of ink and graphite soaked into his skin. "I've made a map of the inside. Is there anything you can contribute? You've been inside it, right?"

He'd missed two entrances and had swapped the snack level with the one that had extra metal for tech. Although things may have changed... Scratch that, they _definitely_ would have.

"A few times." Also not a lie. She was good at this! This was why she was in the skool play, acting was just advanced lying. "That looks good- we'll want to go in the back, if we go through the neighbor's yard we can avoid the gnomes. Do you have a stealth suit of some sort?"

He nodded. "I do, but I don't have two of them. One of us will have to go without."

"Can't you make another one?"

"I had to rip apart one of Dad's old experiments for it, so probably not." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It only fits me. You can be quiet, though, right?"

She gnawed on her lower lip. It still tasted like toast. "Yeah, I can be quiet." He didn't seem reassured, one eyebrow raised. "I can be quieter than you can _imagine._" She poured determination into the last word, and that seemed to appease him.

"Great!" He made an 'X' on the entrance around the back. "We can go around the back, then- you're right, that'll be easier if we want to get to the base proper. Sometimes Zim's little robot thing just lets me in, but he's a wild card, so it's better to be sneaky."

"If- you made the stealth suit yourself, right?"

"Right."

"If you know how it works, can't we just get the parts and make a second one? I'd rather not go in all exposed to the laser guns and stuff, they kind of sting. A lot." A few incidents where the house's security system hadn't recognized her had been more than enough, thank you very much. She _still_ had burns on her back from the most recent one.

"Well, Monday is going to be our best bet, so we have time before then." He clicked his tongue. "I've still got plenty of money from my last allowance, and I've been meaning to get some more supplies anyway. We still need groceries too, and making another suit is a good plan. I don't want to lose you before I even _had_ you, I'd hate myself for that."

"You probably would," she agreed, poking at a pile of fabric that she was pretty sure had moved. Did he have any pets he'd never mentioned or was his stinky underwear cursed?

"So, until then…I'll give you a rundown of the tech I've gotten from Zim over the last year or so. Once we get those parts, we can take care of him. You said you're a good shot, right?" He grinned at her again. She nodded, lips tightly pursed. His coat swished in the air as he jumped off the chair to head over for the closet, practically slamming his palm into the scanner and watching with his hands planted on his hips as a cloud of what could have been steam poured out.

The first thing she noticed as a giant poster of Zim- normal Zim, not in his disguise- that took up a third of the wall. She wrinkled her nose, squinting her eyes slightly- eyes that she knew were a perfect match to his. There was a smaller picture of Gir, and then an assortment of tech she recognized mixed with some that she didn't. He grabbed something seemingly at random and held it up to her, a lilac tube connected to a cube that had rounded edges on the end. "This is all stuff I've either stolen from Zim's base or found while rummaging through his trash. This one's my favorite. I don't know what it does yet, but it sure _looks_ cool, doesn't it?"

Twix bit her lip and gave him a thumbs-up as he started showing off the others, seemingly oblivious to the growing giggles she was forcing back.

She doubted he'd want to know his prized piece of alien tech was part of the downstairs vacuum cleaner anyway.


	3. Dissecting the Problem

"...And _ that's _the heater core. I've managed to rig it to my computer and it makes it run twice as fast, but it also exploded my last one when I let it run for too long, so I just keep it in here now." Dib had loaded her arms down with all the junk that he'd managed to steal from "Zim's 'evil base', and she gave a grin before discreetly dropping it unto the bed behind her.

It had been at least half an hour and he was still going. Hearing Zim's voice hissed with such _ loathing… _it made her stomach flip. Twix cleared her throat.

"So!" She rocked on her heels. "You said Monday. Monday's good, but what day of the week is it now?"

"Mm? Oh, it's Saturday. We can go out to get more supplies tomorrow." He started putting the 'valuable alien specimens' back into their proper place, dusting them off carefully. Now that she looked, actually, they were cleaned so well they practically shined. Considering the filth that composed the rest of the room, it was frankly a wonder, but it also showed just how much he cared about Zim's stuff. It was sweet, in its own stalker-y way. (She began to reconsider the small shelf she'd collected of Tulip's bracelets, before shaking the thought out of her head. She'd give them back when she came over someday. Yeah. Definitely.)

"My bed's pretty big, we could share unless you want the sleeping bag I use for stakeouts," Dib said. "Gaz might attack you if you took the couch."

She glanced over at the mound of blankets, and considered for a moment how long it had been since they'd been washed. "I'll take the sleeping bag."

"You sure? I think a bigfoot drooled on it and it's still got some dirt on the bottom."

"Yeah, I'm sure." She could handle dirt. Dirt was her friend, full of all kinds of plants and worms and interesting bugs. But preteen boy germs from a blanket that smelled like it hadn't been washed since it was bought? _ Those _were something she'd rather avoid sleeping in. She was already stuck in time, she'd hate to be sick on top of it.

"Suit yourself." He shrugged, closing the closet back up before opening the one next to it and tossing the ball of fabric at her. It definitely had something smeared over the top that had been sticky but had long since dried, and she dropped it on an area that looked minimally gross.

"What do you do besides hunt Zim?"

"Well, I've got plenty of forums that I check for local activity, and I have skool. I hunt around for whatever seems to be a threat." He straightened a little ninja action figure on his nightstand. "We should make a list of potential things we can salvage and what we can replace with human equipment."

"Right." She rooted around in her overall's front pocket, digging, digging, ew, her elbow brushed something goopy, she needed to clean it out one of these- ah! Light gleamed off the end of the screwdriver. "This helped me to install the space-time device in the first place, it's a special kind of irken magnet. Neat, huh?"

Dib blinked at her. "How did you _ do _that?"

"Huh? I just pulled it out of my- oh!" She laughed. "Right, my pocket's kind of a… uh… well, it's got a chip so it's bigger on the inside. It's the size of a backpack, I've got all _kinds _of stuff in here! I lost my taser, though, which Pa- er, _ you're _going to be annoyed with in about twenty years."

"I'll try to keep the circumstances in mind," Dib said dryly. "What else is in there?"

"I've got… hmm." She started rummaging around. "I've got lots of paper, some leaves and pinecones, my allergy pen, my wallet, a worm, a _regular_ pen, some granola bars in case I get hungry-"

"Can I see them?"

"Huh?"

"The granola bars."

"Oh, sure." She dug one out, tossing it over to him, and his face fell.

"Oh, they look the same as they do now. The mascot just has bigger eyes."

"Yeah, they haven't changed much." She shrugged. "Corporations found what worked, I guess."

"Yeah…" He turned it over in his hands before tossing it back to her and heading for the door.

They made their way down the stairs and back to the Voot. It had started to drizzle, and she inched towards the garage. If it started pouring, she was stealing a tarp, oil stains in her favorite turtleneck be damned! Just because she didn't burn like Papa didn't mean the light sizzles wouldn't be a dead giveaway. Dib was smart. (At least when it came to Zim-things, because otherwise it was a toss-up.)

"Sooooooooo. How much of it can you fix?" She leaned against the garage wall as Dib used the screwdriver to start unscrewing the paneling.

"It depends on how much got fried during the crash, and how much just needs to be hammered back into the right shape." He coughed, waving his hand in front of his face as smoke billowed from the wiring. "Ugh! That's it, this is going in the garage, water will completely destroy whatever's left. C'mon." He stood up, and Twix kicked aside some kind of armored glove-thing and tucked her hands further into her sleeves before joining him to start shoving it into the garage. Geez, there was a lot of crud in there. At least most of it looked cool, a treasure trove of things lost to the ages, and there was white clover peeking through in the corners. Maybe she could dig around while he fixed the-

**"Oh, great. More junk, what a joy."**

"Huh?" Twix looked up, just barely stopping herself from letting her antennae pop up to hear better.

"I thought I turned you off," Dib grumbled. "You haven't let me touch you since-"

**"Oh, no. You are ****_not _****bringing a ****_Voot _****in here. It's miserable enough that I have to be grounded in such a dingy, disgusting place, but putting me with ****_that _****hunk of junk is****_ too much!"_** The voice had an accent run through an electronic meat grinder, and Twix scrambled on top of the nearest stuff-pile to see where the flashing purple that accompanied each syllable was coming from. A cow's moo echoed in the cramped space as something clattered down, and she stared.

"A ship?"

** "I'm a top of the line Spittle Runner, you little brat," **There was scraping against the concrete as the ship shifted up on- oh, wow, it was using the stabbing appendages as legs, fascinating!

"Who're you? No, no wait, don't tell me, you're-!"

"This is Tak's ship," Dib said before she could. Aw man, she'd _just _remembered. "Zim reactivated her personality drive and it won't let me do anything until I figure out how to wipe it."

**"But that makes the ship a hunk of scrap metal, and ** ** _I_ ** ** refuse to let his sausagey little human fingers poke around in my intricate wiring, so we're stuck with each other." ** The ship leaned forward. ** "And ** ** _you _ ** **are?"**

"I'm Twix." She slid down the pile on a lamp that looked like Grandpa's head. "I'm his daughter. From the future!"

**"****_More_ ** ** of him?" ** The ship let out a low tone that Twix was pretty sure was supposed to be a whine, but it just made her antennae hurt. ** "As if this couldn't get any worse."**

"I just want to get home. And you're a jerk," Twix said, planting her hands on her hips. "I didn't even _ do _anything to you yet!"

**"If you're related to him, you're bound to be irritating. The purple-haired one at least leaves me alone, but I can smell his stubbornness on you."**

"You're a ship, how can you smell anything?"

**"It's just that much of a stench. Now put that Voot away, it's making me sick."**

"We need to keep it out of the rain," Dib said. "And if you even _ think _about touching it, she won't be able to get home, and you'll be stuck with two of us, got it?"

The ship made a series of beeps that were probably the machine version of swear words. **"Just go."**

Twix stuck her tongue out at the ship on the way out.

"So, is the city any different now than when you were growing up? Or do you not even live here anymore? You knew where the toaster was." Dib rifled through the box of parts that had been in the back of the Voot as Twix spun around on a chair.

"I don't know, I came downstairs right after crashing in the yard. I've seen some pictures, but it doesn't look that different? They painted the outside of the cesspool yellow at some point, but the paint started chipping immediately so it's mostly back to a gross green." She kicked at the desk to send the wheeled chair across the lab, past a pile of junk to a series of translucent cages. Inside was some kind of creature that looked like a mix of a cat and a dog, with floppy rounded ears and a long muzzle but more feline body. "What's this?"

"Huh? Oh, that's one of Dad's pet projects. He says pets are supposed to make people more 'relaxed' and 'less crazy', and we already lost the dog, so he's making a new breed of something."

Twix grabbed the sheet next to the cage as the creature got up on its hind legs. "Oooh, it says here it's part chinchilla! That must be why it's so fluffy."

"It probably won't bite if you want to take it out," Dib said, distracted, and she grinned when she found the 'off' switch for the cage.

She crumbled up her granola bar before dropping it in, and it immediately started sniffing it before starting to lap up the little pieces of oat. "I wonder what its insides look like."

"Huh?"

"I mean, it's made of two carnivores and an herbivore." She scooped it up, and it let out a squeak before turning around in her arms and settling down. "Unless it's a pure carnivore, and he managed to tweak it to only have the chinchilla parts be in the fur."

"You'd have to ask him, but he isn't coming home for another week and a half," Dib said. "Just- check the chart I guess. So you like dissecting things?"

"Mhm. I like knowing how living things work. I'm better with that than machines, like I said. We've only dissected worms in class, but in fifth grade we get to do frogs, which'll be fun. I cut up a cat that near the skool once, before the flies got at it, because I wanted to see what its deal was because it had a big hump in its back. It turns out it was just a tumor, though." She scratched behind the thing's ears, and it made a kind of growly purr while nuzzling against her elbow. It was _ adorable. _"Aww, you just want to be held, don't you? Grandpa probably keeps you in that cage too long, and he doesn't come back enough for you. Maybe I can take you home... Dad won't mind if I feed you, and I bet I could seal you right back up if I ever cut you open."

"Do you experiment on live animals?" She turned to see him fiddling with the screw on a wrench.

"Not-" She cut herself off. Somehow, 'the irken anesthetic completely removes pain' didn't seem like it would be an answer he would like. "No, usually dead ones, I was just talking out loud to myself. That cat was dead when I got to it."

"Oh. I do that too! The dissecting animals thing, I mean. It's good we share something else, since everyone at skool gets _weird _about it when I want to check something out. Weirder than usual." He gestured with the wrench in a wide arc. "There are so many mutations around here, aren't there? If they get bad enough, it's hard to see where the line is between a typical cryptid and some animal that just wandered too close to the power plant."

"Who says there has to be a difference?" She carefully climbed back up on the wheely chair. "I mean, most of them are just some kind of divergent evolution, sometimes mixed with magic. Mutation and magic mixed together make most of the common ones. That's where vampires and werewolves came from, I think."

"Is that proven, in the future?" His voice hitched up slightly.

She shrugged. "It's just my theory. Yours is a tear in spacetime, right? Maybe you're right and that's how I slipped through here, because the barrier's been broken before from the time you went into your head at Halloween."

He groaned. "Did me nearly dying become a _ bedtime story _ for you?"

Twix grinned as the cat-dog-chilla chittered in her lap. "Pretty much. I like how you described the inside of your head." She'd wondered more than once about what her own head-dimension would be like, but the scope had been broken for years, and besides, it probably wasn't worth the headache if it was _half _as tangled and nightmarish as his.

He half-smiled at that, but she caught only a flash of it before he turned back to the box, metal sounds grinding against her antennae as he kept rummaging around.

At seven, they headed up to the kitchen to make sandwiches for dinner, and she froze at the purple dress leaning over the open door of the fridge. "Oh. Oh, boy, oh boy, oh boy." Twix liked Aunt Gaz. She really did. But she also knew that she was completely _terrifying _when she didn't like you, and boy oh boy did she have a weird story that she might not believe, and-

"Well, better to get it over with. Hey, Gaz!" Dib strode into the kitchen, and she turned to him, shutting the door with a little plastic tube in her hand.

"What?"

"Look who showed up!" He grabbed Twix by the arms, holding her in front of him like a shield. "She's here from the future, and she's my daughter!"

Gaz opened one eye. "You sure you didn't just meet her at the Krazy House?"

"No, they don't mix the boys and the girls anymore since they made the new building, remember? I tested her for it and everything!"

"So you're my niece?" She took a step closer, and Twix gave a wave. Her aura was stronger than usual, like all of the impressive power that made her up got compressed when she was in a smaller package.

"Uh-huh."

"You don't really look like it."

"I mean, Dib's my dad, _ you're _not my mom, but I've got the family nose. Apparently. I don't see how my nose looks any different from anybody else's, but that's what people say. It's the little upturn at the end, I think? And black hair, but that's common, so that doesn't really prove anything. Um, my eyes are kind of terrible, that's something?"

Gaz considered her for a moment before shrugging. "Just don't touch any of my stuff, or you will pay."

"Got it." Twix nodded like a bobblehead, and Gaz seemed satisfied with that. Phew.

"So, what can you tell me about my future?"

"I don't want to cause any-" Gaz tilted her head slightly, and Twix squeaked. "You end up making games!" A small smile quirked up the very edge of Gaz's mouth, and she turned to leave, tearing open her tube of yogurt with her teeth on her way out. The air lightened, and Twix drew in a breath.

Dib turned her around. "Is that true?"

"Yeah, but- that's kind of obvious, isn't it?"

"I guess. But you wouldn't tell _ me _anything! Why not?"

"Because anything I tell _ you _might ripple and make me not exist."

"But you told _ her- _"

"Let's just get over it, okay?" She grabbed a bag of bread, letting it spin to untwist the opening. "I'm not telling you anything because anything could be a trigger to snap me from existence. Haven't you ever seen the Back to the Past trilogy?"

"Yeah, but- oh, fine," he huffed, climbing up on top of the counter before grabbing a jar of peanut butter. She winced, guts turning at old memories.

"Do you have anything else? I'm allergic."

"There's some more stuff in the fridge, but not a lot more. Like I said, we need to go grocery shopping."

"Oh."

The fridge held a jar of pickles that was about a third full, a single egg, some milk, and a few cans that she was pretty sure weren't supposed to be there. There was also a grape soda, but when she reached for it-

"Wait, that's Gaz's!"

"Hmm?"

"Yeah, I ran out of the cream ones the other day. That's hers. Don't touch it."

"I need sugar, though."

"There's probably some candy in one of the drawers, you just have to rummage around for it. Are you- is that a diabetic thing?"

"Something like that." She pulled open the nearest drawer, only discovering utensils. The next one was big stirring spoons that had what she swore was a thin layer of dust, but the third one had a bag of gummy worms. They were expired when she squinted at the date, but certainly better than nothing. She popped two slices of bread in the toaster before removing the rubber band from the bag, sliding it over her hand to her wrist just in case she snapped the one she was using as a hair tie.

Dib had made a peanut butter sandwich, and she listened to him chew for a minute as she waited for the toast to pop back up. His breathing was- quieter than she expected. Everything about this younger version was over the top, it was weird that when her back was turned he sounded like any other kid who was just eating dinner.

POP! There was the bread. She grabbed it, upending the gummy worms unto one slice before setting the other on top of it and sitting down. Rummaging in her pocket again, she pulled the extra granola bar out, considering it before dropping it back in. She might need to save it. Tearing at the bread with her teeth, she got a nice mouthful of chewy, sweet worm. "Mmmm…"

"Geez, you eat like Gaz," Dib said, with one eyebrow raised. "She always made weird combos too."

"Gummy worms and bread is a perfectly suitable meal," Twix defended. "You've got the sugar, and the bread, and I'm going to have a few of the pickles."

"Knock yourself out. I'm just going to have some fruit." Dib stood up, grabbing a little bag of dried fruit bits and shook a handful into his palm before dropping it into his mouth. He held out the bag. "Want some?"

Better to keep her strength up. "Yeah, sure." She took the bag, copying him by pouring some into her hand and dropping the handful into her mouth. It tasted weird when mixed with the worms, but not altogether terrible, and she wasn't having an active reaction, so that counted as a success.

A screen floated through the kitchen with a familiar labcoat-covered face on it."Son, remember to brush your teeth, and keep an eye on the gophers tearing up the yard!"

"Hi!" She waved, but the screen just moved into the next room. "Hey, what was that for?"

"Oh, it's pre-recorded. It changes every week or so." Dib stood up to put the fruit bag away, and she turned to watch as the same message repeated in the living room.

"So it just says the same thing over and over?"

"Yeah." Dib's lip twitched. "He's- busy. Like I said, he'll be back in a couple of days, and he'll probably change it then." He took another bite of the sandwich.

"Oh." That sounded- really lonely, especially since Gaz wasn't much of a talker. There was always _ someone _making noise at home.

When they finished dinner, they climbed up the stairs again, and she used her finger as a toothbrush, borrowing a little wad of toothpaste from whoever was using the mint tube. She crawled into the sleeping bag.

"I'm going to be up for a little while- you can use my headphones if the typing bothers you," Dib said, pointing.

Twix nodded. "Got it." Headphones are kind of useless when you don't have ears, but it's wasn't like she could _ say _that. After lying down, she noticed a little throw pillow with the ML logo that had been kicked under the bed and reached for it. It was just out of reach, but if she streeeeeetched- ah! Victory! Her fingers curled around it and she reeled it back, fluffing it up. Unfortunately, that resulted in a billowing cloud of dust particles and a coughing fit.

Dib turned at that. "Should have offered a pillow, sorry."

"It's-" She waved a hand to dissipate the cloud, nose wrinkling. "It's fine, don't worry about it."

"Do you- uh. I've got a couple of stuffed animals way back in my closet, do other kids like that?"

"I'm fine." She glanced over at the closet. "Thanks for the offer, though."

He brightened up, clearly pleased. "No problem."

She smacked the throw against the ground a couple more times, but when it stopped spitting dust in her face, she settled her cheek down on it. Dib's chair creaked.

"Aren't you going to take your goggles off?"

"Gah!" Flipping over, he was hovering over her, head tilted with his hands behind his back. "No, I- I sleep with them on."

"Isn't that kind of uncomfortable?"

"No. I like them. It's fine."

He shrugged, hopping back on the chair. "Well, if you say so."

She turned over, pulling the rubber band out of her hair. She snuggled down into the sleeping bag and bit her lip as he started typing. Closing her eyes, she crossed her fingers inside the bag.

_ Please let this work._


	4. Measuring Up

The clock on the nightstand flashed _2:30 am_ as Twix's good antenna twitched, and she cracked one eye open at a hissed whisper of "That's what I _ said! _" from just outside the door. The throw pillow had a tiny line of drool from her lips to the fabric that broke when she shifted.

"And she's _ definitely _ related to me, I tested her." Dib's voice was low, and there was a pause. "Hey, we're keeping my identity secret! I know you- don't they monitor these calls? Yes, I know everyone is paranoid, that's the point, isn't it?" Another pause. He must have headphones on, and the other person was speaking to him through them. She swallowed, trying not to breathe too hard. Her antenna strained towards the door. "No, I don't need to bring her in, but if anything goes wrong, then I want you to send agents to Zim's base on Monday night. You should have the address by now. Yes, this is real, this isn't another- I already _ apologized _for that!"

The floor in the hallway squeaked as he shifted forward, hitting a few keys on his laptop. She was lucky she'd chosen to sleep on her left side- if she'd rolled over to her right, her bad antenna would have been up. As it was, he said under his breath she still couldn't make out until he spoke up again. "I'm trying to get information out of her. She might just be a cousin I've never met with a theatrical streak or something, but I don't think so. She crashed in on a copy of Zim's ship, after all." He made a humming noise. "I'll see if I can scavage a few parts that won't harm the flight capabilities, she said she isn't much of a mechanic so she won't miss them. I don't want her crashing, though. I'll send them in if I can. If I'm lucky, I'll have an alien to go with them too. Mothman out."

He didn't want to hurt her, he was just covering his bases. That was... reasonable. He'd told her about the SEN, had even shown her to the grimy little warehouse that was their base of operations once when it was late and there was only the blind guy on watch. As long as they got in, got the parts, and got out, she didn't have anything to worry about from them.

_ 'If I'm lucky, I'll have an alien to go with them.' _

Zim could defend himself. They got into little spats all the time and they'd done this tango for years, why would this be any different? She'd seen him recover from having half his skin melted off in an acid explosion once, a slightly unhinged preteen was manageable. He'd still be around in a few years to have her, otherwise, she wouldn't be here to be asking that question, right? Right.

A few minutes later, he shut the computer off and carefully stepped over her to crawl into the bed. It took her a while to fall asleep, even after he started snoring. Rain pattered on the roof, and she traced constellations in the glowing lights on his ceiling over and over through the thick goggles that hid irken eyes.

"Wake-up time!"

"Gah!" Twix's eyes shot upon as she was shaken by the shoulders, Dib's pointed stare aimed directly at her face. "Where's the fire?"

"Huh?" Dib pulled back, and she realized he was already out of his pajamas and in his regular shirt and coat. That, or he'd slept in them. "There's no fire, it's just 9:15 and we needed to go into town. You don't get any sort of brain damage while you sleep, do you?"

"_What? _ No." She stared at him. "Why would I-"

"No reason. This room is as curse-proof as I could make it, but it was a full moon last night, and- anyway." He threw the curtains open, and she coughed at the dust it stirred up. "We can make some toast and then go. We're walking, so we want to get there before the weirdos show up."

"Right… right." She stretched, cracking her neck. Not for the first time, she wished she had a Pak. (The only reason she'd been given that she _didn't_ was some incident from right before she was born that made them decide it wasn't a good idea. She'd never learned what it was.) Not having to sleep sounded like it would be nice. It was good she didn't have one _now, _though. Dib probably would have noticed it- it was easier to hide antennae in a mop of hair than something literally wired into her back, after all.

"Gaz reacted pretty well to you yesterday, so I wouldn't worry too much about her, but be careful not to touch anything of hers."

"Got it." She yawned, breath warm against her hand as she peeled herself out of the sleeping bag. Her sleeves were sticking to her skin, soaked in sweat from the heat-trapping sleeping bag. "Can I borrow a shirt?"

"Huh? Oh, sure!" He gestured over to the closet next to the one that had his Zim shrine. "Take your pick, it's about twenty copies of the same one that I got in bulk. Hopefully they fit."

"It's a _ shirt, _ it'll be fine." She walked over to the closet, pulling the door open. True to his word, there were about two dozen straight-mouthed faces staring back at her, as well as a variety of boots. Some had buckles, and two had steel-toed covers, but mostly they were the same plain black as hers. Hers were still fine, his would probably be too big anyway with the extra toes. She flipped the light on and closed the door, undoing her overalls and then tugging her turtleneck off. She needed to shower, bleh. Maybe when they got back.

The closet smelled even more like body spray than the rest of the room, and when she grabbed a shirt off the hanger, she spotted a small suit folded up in plastic. It looked like it had never been used, and she ran her fingers over it for a moment. Maybe it was new, and he just hadn't gotten the chance to use it. If she didn't prefer purple ones, she might have tucked it away, since he clearly wasn't interested.

Luckily, the shirt fit all right, and she folded her turtleneck up, setting it next to the suit before tugging the straps back up. Ah, that was better. It felt naked to not wear sleeves, but she didn't want to wear sweaty fabric for three days straight.

"Good, good." Dib headed for the door, and she followed just in time to see him hop on the banister, hopping up and sliding down it in one smooth motion. He hopped off just before hitting the bottom in the kitchen, turning back to flash her a grin, and she jumped up, pushing off from the wall. She scooted down slower than he had, making a small 'hup!' as she slid like gelatin to the floor on the side of the stairs.

"Here's the plan. I'll check over my notes for the stealth suit, we'll go to the hardware store to pick up parts, then to the megastore to pick up the food and spandex. Sometimes they've got leftover Halloween costumes I can adjust and save time. We should be back by three to keep working on the ship."

She nodded, grabbing the bag of bread and dropping two pieces into the toaster. "That works. What food do you need from the store?"

"Milk, beans, that kind of thing." He waved his hand as he pulled the butter out of the fridge. "It's just whatever's easiest to make."

"Makes sense." She grabbed a pair of plates and a knife, leaning against the counter. The fridge hummed, louder than usual. Or maybe she just usually didn't notice it? She tugged the band off her wrist, carefully tying her hair back.

"So, do you have any… friends?" Dib asked, the table creaking as he leaned forward on it. Wasn't Grandpa already rich at this point? Why was everything so loud and old-ish-sounding?

Twix gnawed on her lower lip. It couldn't hurt _that _much, right? It wasn't relating to Zim or his own future or anything. And she _did _like talking about Tulip, and everybody at skool already knew her, so she didn't get many opportunities to do it. "I have a few. Mostly one."

"That's- that's good! What're they like?"

"Her name is Tulip. She's nice and sweet, even though she's terrible when it comes to standing up for herself. I have to protect her. Nobody messes with _me, _ so when we stick together, she helps me talk to people and I can stop anyone from messing with _her. _" The toaster popped up, and she buttered both slices, setting the plates on the table.

"That sounds like a good deal," Dib said, taking a bite. As he kept speaking, crumbs dropped from his mouth. "You know her from skool, then?"

She nodded. "We met in second grade. I've been over to her house a few times, her dad makes the _best _spaghetti. He said-" She slapped a hand over her mouth. Why did she keep _doing _that? Dammit, dammit!

"What? What is it? Do I know him?" Dib leaned over the table again, and she shook her head.

"I don't want to-"

"Come on, there's obviously _something! _ Unless she's your half-sister or something, it can't hurt, right?"

"It might…" She couldn't let the ripple effect get to Tulip, she just _couldn't. _

"All right, look." He made an 'x' over the right side of his chest with the toast. "I promise, whoever it is, I won't go out and kill them, okay?"

"Promise on your proof."

"Huh?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I said, promise on the proof in the closet upstairs." Twix's eyes narrowed behind her goggles as she pointed up. "I don't want anything going wrong for her in the future because you did something dumb now. I _ like _her dad, but I know you went to skool together, and that means you know him now, and-"

"All right, all right, sheesh. I promise on the stuff from Zim's base, happy?"

She chewed on her cheek for a moment, considering until the flesh started to feel like static between her teeth. "Her dad's name is Keef."

_ "What?" _Dib's eye started twitching, and she winced. Oh boy. "He's still _ alive? _ At least tell me that he doesn't keep bugging Zim and I. _ Please. _" She sucked in a breath through her teeth, and his forehead smacked against the table. "Kill me…"

Geez, he wasn't _ that _bad. Asking them to come over for coffee isn't a crime, even if he was a little over-enthusiastic. She'd gotten a lot of cookies out of him over the years. He was a great baker. "He said you two were friends when you were my age, but you tended to avoid him in my time-"

"He stalked me for a month straight! Do you know what it's _ like _ to see somebody else using your toothpaste? I had to board up my window, and he _ still _ got in! Gaz thought it was funny or something, because she never put a stop to it, I'd come home from staking out Zim's base and he'd just be in the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge. Honestly, at first I thought _ you _might have been him since he never stays dead for long."

"Ah, no." She took another bite of her toast. "So, you stake out Zim's base?"

"How else am I going to get information on his activities? You saw the stuff I got out of his trash. You want to see my log sheet?"

How was that any different from…? She shook her head. "I'm good. Fine. Perfect, even. Let's just go get the supplies, shall we?"

"Right, there's no time to waste!" He shoved the rest of the toast in his mouth, spinning the plastic plate in the air like a frisbee. Miraculously, it landed in the sink. Twix clapped twice at the smooth move, and he beamed.

She followed him down the stairs to the lab, taking them two at a time. Dib shoved a box into her arms, before snapping his fingers. "Oh, right, the suit's in my closet. Back in a second." He sprinted back up the stairs and she plopped down on a nearby chair, starting to rummage through the box. There were a lot of little metal bits in it, as well as some tools she _did_ recognize, including the screwdrivers of various sizes. Her kingdom for a Pak scanner.

The dog-cat-chilla made a whimpering noise, and she slid off the chair, setting the box aside to settle on her knees in front of its cage. There was a little bowl of pellets that hadn't been there last night inside. "That must be automated, huh? Better than you starving to death." She opened the cage again, scooping it up, and it started licking her hand. "I wonder if there's any kind of shrinking or duplicating machines in here? I could just keep you in my pocket and feed you crickets and grass, and I could name you Audrey-"

"Here we go!" Dib announced his arrival with a thud on the bottom stair. "I have the suit and the blueprints I drew up to make it. I'll need to take some measurements, though- the spandex needs to be skin-tight or the excess wrinkles will make it less effective. You've got underwear on, right?"

"Why would I not have underwear?" That better not be implying that he _didn't, _or she was going to be sick.

"I don't know, I just- anyway. Overalls off, I promise I'll be fast. Once we take stock of what's already down here, we can head into town. I'll get a little extra in case I cut the suit too close, I'm not making _ that _mistake again." He spun his hand to encourage her to start stripping, and she flushed.

"Can't I measure myself?"

"No, it isn't going to be as accurate. You can leave your socks on too, if you want."

"That isn't the- oh, whatever, just make it quick." She kicked off her boots and tugged her faux-denim overalls down, pulling the borrowed shirt off her head. He raised an eyebrow, and she hugged herself, fingertips brushing the scattered scars half a shade lighter than the rest of her skin. She absently ran her index finger over the largest, just above her left hip.

"What are-"

"No, you can't ask," she said, eyebrows narrowed. "Get it over with." She didn't remember getting about half of them anyway. Honestly, _ not _having a Pak might be a good thing if it meant she didn't have to remember how many surgeries she'd apparently had between the ages of birth and four. Haphazard genetic mixing had its risks, but the end result was what mattered, as Papa always said. (She was a pretty good end result, in her opinion, even if her stomach liked violently rebelling against about a third of any given grocery shelf.)

Dib pulled a flexible measuring tape out of his coat pocket, unraveling it with a flick and getting to work. He measured around her waist and chest and across her arms and legs, scribbling it all down on a notepad. Twix, for her part, wished desperately that they'd done this in his room, because she was pretty sure she was going to freeze her butt off. It'd just flop to the ground and hop away like it had somewhere else to be, somewhere that wasn't the half-lit basement with the dog-cat-chilla scratching at the synthetic cage around it and her future father's fingers brushing over her skin. Cold sweat dripped down her back, and she swallowed.

He measured from her chin to the tip of her skull, tongue sticking out slightly before rolling the tape back up. She let out a sigh of relief when he didn't touch her goggles or brush through her hair- or two inches down to note her lack of ears. "That should be enough. Luckily, we're pretty close in size so I just need to make some tweaks to the design I already have."

She redressed, shirt then overalls then boots. "I mean, didn't we already know that? I fit in your shirt, and I'm obviously not a foot taller than you or anything."

"Duh, but I'm making sure we're getting enough materials. Those overalls are loose, I didn't know if you were a little chubbier than I am." He stuffed the paper with the measurement in his coat pocket. "Do you want a coat, or-"

"If it's nice out, I don't need one, but I'm also used to wearing long sleeves. Long sleeves are nice, they cover everything."

"Yeah, they do... anyway, you can decide when we head out."

After Dib rummaged around on a shelf full of spare parts for a few minutes, they ascended the stairs together, Twix tugging at the sleeves of the borrowed shirt. Feeling material that was short enough to tuck under her armpit was _ weird, _ and so was air on her arms. It was lucky that most of her _really _irken parts were tucked safely under her skin and goggles.

They passed the lamp shaped like Grandpa's head and she traced the zig-zag of his hair with her finger. Maybe he'd make her one like that someday, that'd be neat. (Although after seeing what a normal day here was like, she wasn't sure _what _she'd say to him when she got back. _ Someone _should have made Dib clean his room a long time ago. Papa did it on a bi-weekly basis.) Gaz was sitting on the couch reading, and didn't even look up as Dib threw the door open.

Twix marched out behind him, before shivering. It was misty out from the rain last night, and it prickled goosebumps on her arms. How did people _ stand _having their entire arms exposed? It was so vulnerable! "I'm going to take that coat, actually."

"I've got a few just inside." Dib nodded, and she stepped back into the living room. The smells of mildew and air freshener fought each other once she opened the closet door. There were a few coats inside. One looked like it belonged to Gaz, with purple rimming the pockets, but one was identical to Dib's and she plucked it off the hanger and tugged it on.

She sniffed the collar- it smelled like the closet's warring mold and artificial pine scents, but there was a fruity tang underneath. It had probably been washed and had been sitting in the closet for a few days. Better that than dirty, at least. She walked back out, and Dib grinned.

"I don't know if it really works with the overalls, but it suits you." He gave her a once over. She struck a pose with her hands on her hips just as a gust of wind blew past, sending the tail of the coat spiraling like a flag. He pulled out a camera, snapping a picture as she grinned. "Gaz never wants to stick around for too long on investigations, I can't believe I've got an actual sidekick now."

"Partner," Twix said. Sidekick sounded off, but the excitement in his voice made up for it. He nodded, grinning back at her.

"Right, partner! That's even better!" He rummaged around in his pocket. "I've got my wallet, and it's only about a fifteen-minute walk."

"That's not bad at all. I want to see what _ has _changed." Twenty years could do a lot, after all!

"That's the spirit!" He pushed at her shoulder playfully, then pulled back. "That's- something people do, right?"

She rubbed at the spot, smile twitching. Just how lonely _was _he? She cracked her knuckles in midair before reaching for his hand, and he straightened up at that, intertwining their fingers.

His hand was sweaty, but the smile he wore melted from a smug grin to something softer as he squeezed her tight.

* * *

A/N: I know this one's a bit short and not very eventful, but it was actually split into two parts- the shopping portion is in the next chapter. That one is, as of writing this, turning out a fair bit longer anyway, but ah well, this felt like the best place to split it. Better one short chapter than a sudden 8000+ word behemoth in between a bunch of 3000-4000 ones. Anyway, reviews welcome!


	5. Shopping Trip

As they headed towards the shops, the routine was achingly familiar. He rambled on about the vampire bees whose colonies were warring with each other, accenting his words with his free hand gesturing around like a frantic bee itself. Twix listened with her non-held hand in her pocket, surprised by just how roomy it was considering they didn't have a space-expanding chip inside. It even had a candy wrapper in it, which she flicked into a nearby trash can after the sugar crumbs brushed her fingers.

The dissonance when they arrived at the main street, though, made her head spin. Everything looked the same and different all at once. The gas station had a fresh coat of paint- or rather, it _ wasn't _coated with an extra twenty years of grime. There was a statue of some former mayor that didn't have the head off and replaced by a traffic cone, and something like a third of the stores were completely different. There was an extra alley that had been filled in by her time. Now, it was covered with sad-looking Black-eyed Susans managing to struggle up through the concrete, and the skyline looked different because several things hadn't been built yet.

"We can go get the electronics first, then to the big store for everything else. I've got an extra pair of gloves, you can- er, just ignore the last finger. I can sew it off." Dib pulled out the list. "What else… oh, and we need cereal and milk and some other stuff. We can get that last so it doesn't go bad. I'd say to split up, but you don't have a phone, do you?"

She shook her head. "Even if I did, it probably wouldn't work when the minutes were bought for twenty years from now."

"Right. Well then, we're going together." He pulled her into the shop, only letting go of her hand when he started picking up little metal disks and wires. A nearby employee started up a conversation with him about them as she noticed a pot on the windowsill.

"Is that a zebra plant?" She climbed on top of a stack of boxes to get a better look, shoulders sagging when she realized they were plastic. "Oh. Who even _ gets _plastic succulents?"

"Rodney, since the last six before that one died," a passing staff member commented as she swept around the shelves, her gray hair tied back in a messy bun.

"Six?" What a waste of perfectly good botanical life! "How do you kill_ six succulents _ in a row?"

She leaned on her broom. "No one knew who was watering it, so Jim just poured his leftover sodas into them every second Thursday."

Her heart-spooch clenched. "That's terrible! Those poor plants…"

"Yeah, well, at least plastic doesn't make the place smell like a worn-down juke joint like the soda did," the old woman muttered as she swept her way into the back room. Twix sat herself down on the stack of boxes, watching as Dib flitted around the store for supplies. A few other patrons came and went around him, and she started counting similarities in case she knew their kids.

One had hair that was rose-red and puffy like Tulip's- maybe it was a relative of hers? She'd been dumped in a foster home too early to remember her biological parents, so who knew. There was a girl with braces and purple hair buying a charm for her phone, and she had a cute little lisp that Tulip immediately liked. A tall, skinny man in a striped shirt was buying jumper cables and had eyebags to rival Dib's on a bad day, and after him, a curvy woman with messily-dyed blue hair that had also dyed part of her eyebrow on accident traded in her phone case for a hot pink one.

"That should be good," Dib said as he came up in front of her, stuffing his receipt into the bag as he nodded to the door. She jumped off the boxes.

"So that's-"

"We just need to get a spandex bodysuit, and with a few alterations, it'll work just fine."

"Sounds good." She nodded, and he dropped the bag into her hands as he rummaged around in his wallet.

"Oh, good, my credit card's in here too, just in case."

"You have a credit card?"

"Yeah, don't you? There's a limit, but I usually don't reach it." He shrugged. "Dad said it was to teach us 'financial responsibility.'" He made air quotes before taking the bag back. "Do you want anything?"

"I like bologna. And pasta salad." She traced her thumb along the star embroidered on the pocket of her overalls. Dib grimaced.

"Pasta salad I can do." He started walking again, shifting the bag to his other hand then holding the newly-freed one out to her.

Twix took it, and a soon as she did, he squeezed her fingers tightly like he was afraid she'd let go. He kept glancing back at her.

She cleared her throat. "So how long have you been shopping on your own?"

"We used to have a delivery service, but I think Dad just forgot to renew it, so…. two or three years?" His fingers twitched against hers as he counted, before shrugging. "Whatever, it's more having to find the time."

"Right…" She'd never been so glad that there was always someone in the house, even if it was the house computer itself. Speaking of... "So, how are you going to shut down the computer?"

Dib rummaged around in the bag. "I've got an EMP that I can connect to my computer and reprogram to shut down the house's brain for a few hours. It's an actual brain, did you know that? I poked it once. I wonder if they cut it out of an actual irken as punishment for something. Or it could be from some slave race?"

"..." Twix bit down on her lip hard enough to send fuzzy pain up her face, nose scrunched up in the process. The computer had only ever been a computer, but knowing that would be suspicious, wouldn't it? Yeah, it would, especially considering _ Dib _didn't know. "Yeah, it could be anything."

"All of Zim's tech is incredible, if I could just get a few days alone in there…." He shook his fist in enthusiasm, eyes wide as he tugged her tight against his hip. "Together, we'll be able to put a stop to his terror once and for all." He let go of her hand, spinning her around (to which she gave an 'eep!') and gripping her shoulders so hard she could feel his nails through the leather coat. "We can send you off to a better future while I get to prove to _ everyone _that I was right!"

She swallowed. "Uh-huh! And, er- what are you going to do about Zim?"

"Don't worry too much about that, I've got it handled. If we get in and out quickly enough we won't even have to deal with him. If we do, though, I've got _ plenty _of experience wrangling him, and this time is going to be different, I feel it in my bones." He shook the bag, supplies rattling around inside the cheap plastic. "I just need you to help carry the supplies, and if we're lucky, maybe Zim. Maybe I should bring a dolly for the body if we take him out tomorrow."

"If we're lucky?" Did he mean to knock him out or…? The conversation about dissection from yesterday started drumming around in her brain, and she curled her fingers into a fist.

Somehow, the jokes she heard them make so often about opening each other up didn't seem as fun anymore.

"I'll get all the time in the world to explore if- well, that's for tomorrow." He waved a hand, voice chipper. "Come on, the store starts running out of-, we want to get in now."

Someone had passed by too close in the middle of his sentence, and she ruffled her hair, trying to untangle the hair over her good antenna without exposing it. "What?"

"We want to get the beans."

"Beans. Got it." She gave a thumbs up and they headed in.

He grabbed a basket and navigated the store easily, using his short stature to duck between other shoppers and nab things quickly. It was a huge place, carrying everything from food to pool floaties and everything in between. Twix ended up carrying everything to allow him to grab what he needed without being weighed down. The inside of the store was reassuringly familiar, at least- it looked brighter and slightly newer, but nothing major had been moved around besides the cupcake aisle in twenty years, apparently.

Unfortunately, Dib had been right- it was starting to get crowded, and people kept bumping against her. She almost dropped the bag of tortillas when a man pushed her out of the way to grab a bag of carrots, and she bit back the urge to hiss at him.

Breathe, Twix. Breathe.

"Hey, you okay?" Dib was about to drop a bag of frozen fries into her arms but raised an eyebrow. "You look like you're about to bite somebody."

"I'm just-" She huffed out a sigh. "A little stressed."

"You haven't disappeared yet, so interacting with me hasn't changed your future enough that I don't have you. You're fine."

"For all I know, that isn't how this works and I already don't exist, but this version of me will disappear as soon as I-"

"Time travel is complicated, let's just leave it at that, okay?" He patted her shoulder. "You'll find out one way or another once you get back, but if you were going to disappear in this time, it would have happened already."

"Reassuring," she mumbled as he dropped the fries in her arms.

They finished the shopping for both the food and the bodysuit soon enough after that, and Dib bought them both cupcakes. It was awkward maneuvering around the bags to eat without dropping crumbs everywhere, but it was the kind of challenge Twix was well-used to. A lifetime of candy bars on the go had trained her well.

Between the two of them, they made it back to the house without dropping anything. (More than once, anyway- Dib nearly tripped over a feral cat, but it ran off and he managed to catch the bag before it actually hit the ground, so it didn't _ really _count.)

"Hand me the wrench."

Twix dug around into the toolbox, then slapped it into his open palm. "So what do we need?"

"Parts of the engine overheated, and the fuel got everywhere- we'll need to clean it out." Dib pulled himself up, grease streaking his face. "If I really focus, it shouldn't take too long to fix once we have the parts. Zim will definitely have extras in the base. You'll just have to deal with the cracked front window and the partially-stuck wheel."

"I'm not trying to fly to the moon, just back home."

"It won't be pretty, but it'll do." He wiped his forehead, smearing purple- oil? Yeah, she was still going to go with oil- over his sleeve. "You managed to get here, I'm sure you can get back. The ship will probably steer back to its usual time automatically."

"I hoped you'd have something better for me than a 'probably'."

"Well, I don't _ normally _have daughters dropping out of the sky and proving that time travel is possible," Dib said dryly. "All we really have are guesses. But we'll get into Zim's base and send you home, I promise you that."

"Can't we use parts from Tak's ship?" Twix pointed her thumb further into the garage.

**"I heard that! No, you may not!"**

"It'd eviscerate us," Dib said with a wince of past experience. "I can get us in, don't worry." Dib scraped a hand along his sleeve, wincing at the oil now streaking his palm. "Ugh, I need to wash this now or it's going to start dripping oil…"

"I can do it. I need to wash my sweater anyway." Twix said, holding her arms out. "You can keep working on the Voot, I'll clean the clothes and take a shower."

"Sounds good," Dib said with a nod, pulling the coat off and handing it over. He looked- smaller, without it, arms slightly paler than the rest of him and marked with scratches and ragged scars. She tried to remember if he'd ever told her about any of them, but he turned to keep fiddling with the Voot's inner workings, occasionally muttering to himself. Oh well, it wasn't really that important.

She noticed him making a small pile of parts. "What's that for? You aren't taking anything, are you?"

"Why, do you think I am?" he countered. "I'm just- collecting things that fell out but are still intact. Don't worry, I'm working on it." He waved his hand to shoo her away. "Go clean up, I'll be in soon enough."

From experience, 'soon enough' meant another two hours, at least. Somehow, she knew that still applied. She snapped a mental picture of the pile in case it went mysteriously missing before heading back to the house and towards the laundry room. On the way, she plucked up a few dandelions that had escaped the debris of the Voot.

He'd probably like some tea, and _ she _ needed something that was familiar in a good way or she was going to _ scream. _ From the shopping, she kind of doubted they'd have any good tea, and being able to tear something up would be relaxing. Zim had always said that was the irken in her. She draped the coat over a chair and pulled a pair of medical gloves from the counter before washing the dandelions. Hopefully there wasn't any weed-killer on them. She'd managed to avoid getting sick so far, at least.

Yellow swirled down the drain as she tore them to pieces, boiling a few cups of water on the stove as she did. From the other room came slashing and shooting sounds, which must mean- yep, when she peered out, Gaz was playing one of her games. She had a headset on, and Twix wasn't about to annoy her over some tea unless she asked for it.

She dropped the bits of dandelion in the water once it began to boil, pulling the gloves inside out and dropping them in the trash. There was a timer on the stove, and she set it and grabbed the coat again.

It was going to be relatively simple to do the laundry when she spotted a basket of fruity laundry pods sitting atop the washer, at least. She hurried upstairs to grab her sweater, deciding to throw her overalls in as well. All she had to do was pull the coat she'd borrowed closed from his room to the bathroom.

_ Unfortunately, _ there lay a problem. At home, the bathroom used gel to either fill the tub or slide down and clean her off, but the shower here… it used water. Light rain wasn't painful, it mostly just sputtered off her skin like a bucket dumped on a smoldering fire, but being _ drenched _in it… she swallowed, twisting the handle to the side. The water swelled in the pipes before spewing from the faucet, bright and clear. Folding the coat and setting it atop the toilet lid, her fingers quivered as she pushed two of them towards the water.

It was- fine. No smoke or anything. What on Earth…? She squinted, then smacked her forehead. Duh, it ran clear, it must be purified! Grandpa _ would _be fussy about that. Satisfied, she tugged off her goggles, shirt, and underwear, climbing in with a sigh of relief.

Cleaning with water instead of gel was weird. There was too much pressure and not enough at the same time, and feeling individual drops pelt her skin was uncomfortable. (Not to mention the temperature fluctuated wildly whenever she so much as nudged the handle.) Frankly, she'd never felt more naked, despite the fact that she bathed regularly at home.

After ten minutes of fiddling, though, she managed to find a comfortable temperature. Fortunately, Dib had already acquired a taste for cocoa shampoo, which she happily borrowed and scrubbed into her scalp. Her antennae relaxed into their natural upright position as her fingers ran through her hair, feeling sweat and stress spiral down the drain.

When the water began to run cold, she twisted the dial off and hopped out, fluffing through her hair with her fingers and grimacing as it caught in tangles. The medicine cabinet had a comb, but it was pink and probably belonged to Gaz. Well, one day with only finger-combing wouldn't kill her. She wrapped herself in a towel, checking in the mirror that her antennae were properly hidden again before carefully moving down the hall to switch the laundry from the washer to the drier.

That gave her forty minutes to run through Dib's computer and laugh at how terrible most of the pictures on the desktop were, as everything else was behind so many passwords she couldn't even begin to guess. (That is, except for the one full of blurry Girs that was under the password 'mothman'.) She also made a pair of salami sandwiches and poured the tea, being careful to only strain out the liquid and dumping a few spoonfuls of sugar into hers. Her luck carried, the drier finished right when she checked on it.

Tugging her turtleneck back on was like slipping back into her own skin. She took a moment to hug herself, twirling on the tile in her newly-warm socks.

"Now, then!" Twix brushed her hand over her hair. Antennae were down, goggles were on, good to go. She hadn't realized just how much she'd needed a few moments to breathe until she'd had them, and she strutted back out to the kitchen to grab the sandwiches, carrying them and the tea out to Dib on a tray she'd found half-wedged next to the fridge. "I brought- I don't know if this is lunch or dinner, honestly."

Dib made a happy-sounding noise from under the Voot. "Oh, you made- gah!" He banged his head on the ship, rubbing it with a grimace as he peeled out. She winced- he was soaked in deep purple oil, and the pile of parts had shrunk.

"Where are the parts you took out?" She asked, setting the tray down and folding her legs criss-cross.

"Huh? Oh! They're- in the garage. I'm still trying to find replacements for some of them- the less we have to carry, the better."

"Mhm. Are you sure you're not keeping them as alien tech?" She lifted her mug, raising an eyebrow as high as she purposefully could to be sure he could see it.

"Oursen't."

She leaned forward- was he mumbling or was that just her? Ugh, it was probably just her. "Huh?"

"I said of course not, I don't want you crashing or anything." He grabbed the sandwich, taking a big bite as she sipped her tea. It hadn't seeped for long enough and just kind of tasted like weed-water. Ah well. The sugar helped cover it.

"But you _ can _fix it."

"Once I have the parts, it shouldn't take too long. A day, maybe? Two at most, considering I can't skip school three days in a row or I get detention in the room with the electric floors. Do they still have those?"

Twix shook her head. "I dug through the detention room floor once because something kept pounding on it from the underside, though."

"What's underneath there anyway?"

_ Hisses, screams, white-hot pain as claws dug into her legs and gouging into her side… _ She shuddered. "Trust me, you're better off not knowing."

"Come _on,_ don't leave me like that!"

"As long as they don't escape, you don't have to worry about it."

He scooped up a curved piece of plastic, playfully lobbing it at her with a 'tell me!', and she smacked it, wincing as it hit the electrical fence and curled in on itself like burnt paper, reeking of molten plastic.

"Uh. That wasn't important, was it?"

"I don't think so," Dib said, in a tone that indicated he had no idea whether it was or not but wasn't about to tell her either way.

Twix finished her sandwich in a few bites. "So, change of topic. What did you do so far?"

"I took out everything that looked broken, and I made a rough blueprint of what it probably looked like when it was intact. Luckily I had mapped out Tak's ship before it was rebooted-"

**"You ** ** _what?"_ **

"-So I know roughly where irken engineers put things and what parts go where."

She nodded. "Makes sense."

"You can help with the putting back together part, I can point you in the right direction. I can't believe you don't know_ already, _honestly, unless you just got access to the ship."

"Er, something like that." She'd been riding in the Voot for as long as she could remember, but the controls had always been locked off to her before the last few months. Now that she thought of, it, actually, maybe she'd inherited whatever gene made things tend to explode around her dads considering she'd ended up here at all...

"You said you were better with biology, right? What about it?" Dib asked, taking another bite of sandwich, and she lit up like the countdown on a bomb.

"Knowing how the world works is so _ fascinating! _ I told you about dissections, but I like botany in particular. Plants are _eighty percent _of the biological matter on the planet, and they're some of the oldest living things, with a _ billion _years to evolve! There's so much genetic diversity in plant life, being able to manipulate it to do what I want makes me feel so _ powerful." _She only realized she was leaning towards him when her forehead bumped a piece of metal, and she fell back, looking up at the sky as her fingers tugged at the grass. "I like studying the biology of the cryptozoological samples if we catch anything on our hunts too, trying to compare it to both mutated and non-mutated animals in case I can find any connection."

"Does my D- your grandpa ever come around?" Dib asked, and she sat up.

"That's relating to-"

"You've let a bunch of stuff spill already and it hasn't ruined the space-time continuum, has it?" He tried to clean his glasses on his shirt, but it just smeared more of the oil around them, and he groaned. "This stuff _ better _not be explosive."

"If it was, it probably would have blown up by now. It was smoking when I landed," Twix said, bouncing her knee. "I like Grandpa and we get along pretty well. I think- I think he gets better when you get older. He really leaves you alone for _ days _at a time?"

"Gaz and I are pretty mature, we can handle it," Dib said, cracking his neck.

"Yeah, so am I, but-" She blew up at her bangs. "It's just _weird_ is all. And not the good kind of weird. We're still kids. Cool kids, but I can't even reach half the shelves in the store properly unless I climb on top of them."

"Not just any kids, though- we're_ Membranes, _" Dib said, putting his glasses back on. "We're going to change the world." He grinned. "You sound like a lot of fun, and between the two of us, we can do anything."

His convictions were infectious- Twix found herself grinning back. "We can. So, you need to fix up the suit?"

"Oh yeah, we still need time to do that!" Dib stood up. "I'll go get my kit." He jogged over to the house, and Twix followed behind him, grimacing at the trail of purple droplets he left behind. He shrugged his coat that she'd hung in the doorway back on. _ While still coated in Voot goop. _

Okay, that was_ it._ Twix squeezed past him, racing up the stairs.

"Hey, what are you-" he cried out, but she focused on her boots pounding the wood before reaching his bedroom, slamming the door shut. "Twix! Hey!" The increasing volume of the patter of racing feet told her exactly how close he was. When he reached the end of the hallway, he started banging on the door. "Let me _ in, _my-"

"You're taking a shower first," she informed him. "I already went to the bathroom, I can wait in here for as long as I need to."

"Come _ on, _ I was going to when I finished-"

"No, _ now, _" she demanded. "If you don't, I'll start throwing away the papers on the floor, and I don't know which ones are still important."

"You wouldn't dare-"

"Try me, _ Dad. _"

There was one more thud on the door, exactly the right sound from a 12-year-old fist. "Give me a towel, then."

"I saw a few in the bathroom. One of them is probably yours."

"...You're good."

"I'll be waiting." She leaned against the door until she heard the dejected thuds as he trudged towards the bathroom, and then the water running.

"You better not have used all the hot water!" he called.

"I showered like an hour ago!" She called back. Now, she had a good fifteen minutes, what to do with it? Tapping her chin, she scanned the room. Computer? No, she'd already gotten everything she could from that. Maybe there was something else in his proof closet that could be interesting.

She stepped carefully through the clutter as she made her way over to it. On the way, she nearly slipped on a newspaper where Dib had scribbled all over the mayor's face- some vendetta that had been lost to the ages, most likely.

She set her hand on the scanner, and it- didn't open. Right. Four fingers, and different fingerprints on top of that. What had she expected? Okay, that was out- oh! There was something in a big box, that was promising. It had a thick-looking lock, but there had to be something around here… The pen in her pocket would be a last resort as she moved over to the desk. No bobby pins, but a paper clip might work.

There were some nice-looking pictures of the base scattered in with a few of Gir and Zim, although those were mostly sort of blurry. She considered tucking away a really nice one of bigfoot, though- it'd go nice with the collage in her room.

Ah! Paper clip! And it was dark blue too, nice. She turned back to the box when the door swung open, Dib wringing his hair out with a towel. Twix immediately dropped the paper clip into her pocket, hands clasping behind her back in a gesture of 'absolutely 100% innocent' she'd perfected years ago. He easily weaved through the room to his closet.

Once he snapped the door shut, he grumbled out in a tone loud enough for her to hear, "Just because I feel better doesn't mean you won!"

She muffled a snicker with her hand. "You're welcome!"

A few minutes later, Dib emerged with a clean shirt, a plastic box, and a slightly drooping scythe-lock. Twix had to resist the urge to flick it as he passed her by on his way to the bed. Dib popped open the box, revealing scissors, thread, measuring tape, pins, and other odds and ends one would expect in a sewing kit. Twix then handed over the bag containing the spandex.

"How long will this take?"

"Not too long. We're lucky we found one about your size so I just need to take it in," Dib said. "Unless you can sew and I can work on the ship?"

She shook her head. "I'm learning, but I'm not that good at it yet. Is there anything else I can help with?"

"You can memorize the base's map. I don't want you getting lost, even though we'll be sticking together."

Like she could get lost in her own house. "Got it." She pulled the map from the desk, spreading it out over his desk.

They passed some time in silence, although Dib yelped once when he pricked himself with a pin. Twix pretended to examine the map, but after about fifteen mind-numbing minutes, she grabbed a blank piece of notebook paper to doodle on while Dib started sewing the little disks on the suit. How that worked was beyond her, but if it kept her from being zapped, she was all for it. Flowers bloomed from the pen, scratching audible when she leaned over the paper.

"I hope the sprinkler system still works," she mumbled.

"Hmm?" Dib looked up. "Sprinkler system?"

"For my plants. I have a-" _ Should _she tell him? Well, she was too far into the sentence to _not, _ at this point. "-A greenhouse. It's small but it's mine."

"That's neat," Dib said. "What do you have in it?"

"All kinds of plants. Some I picked up off the street to figure out what they were, some I bred myself."

"They're probably less finicky than making animals, huh?"

"Oh, plants can be _viciously _territorial. I tried to grow mint in the ground once, it ended up a warzone. I needed a blowtorch to fend them back."

Dib raised an eyebrow. "Are they alien plants or something?"

"Well, I _ did _breed a sentient one once, but generally, I work with Earth plants. They're the easiest to find."

"A _ sentient _one?"

"Heh, yeah… Vennie was good for getting rid of- er, there were a lot of birds around. He started liking bigger prey, and then…" She bared her teeth before snapping them down in a bite. "I ended up cleaning the streets of a lot of strays with that one, and he nearly took my head off. He almost got my hand before we managed to uproot him." She slid her sleeve down to reveal small circular scars that were shaped like the modified venus flytrap's teeth.

"Geez… did you enchant it or something?"

"Or something," She said, before folding her arms. "I fixed it, though, don't worry, you don't die by cannibal plant. Although since he was a plant, it's not really cannibalism... is it? Would that be reverse vegan, a plant that only eats meat?"

"Wait, wait- I _ don't die? _ Does that mean I die by something _else? _" His fingers tightened around the sewing needle.

"No! No, I saw you a few hours before I got thrown back here, you're fine." She waved her hands frantically in front of her.

Dib squinted suspiciously before judging her as telling the truth. Still, a subject change would be good. "So, about that locked box underneath your bed! What's in that?"

"Huh?" He set the suit aside, before checking for himself. "Oh, that! Yeah, I'll tell you about that in the morning. It'll be a fun surprise."

"Come on!"

He grinned. "You're not telling me my future, I can keep a few secrets."

She groaned, but when he went back to working on the suit, the conversation tapered off. The silence, at least, felt a little more comfortable.

A few hours later, Twix was settled in the sleeping bag again, this time in just a borrowed t-shirt, not wanting to make her regular clothes all sweaty and gross again. Dib was snoring, and if she really squinted, she could see the little bundles that were the stealth suits sitting on his desk.

Tomorrow, they were going to break into the base and get her home.

She snuggled against her pillow, toes curling as she clutched the side of the bag and drifted off into a fitful sleep.


	6. Breaking and Entering

Twix shifted, a twig snapping underneath her boots as Dib stared through binoculars at the base. It looked… pretty much the same as she was used to, although they'd added a few more gnomes in the future. She wasn't sure if that was comforting or unsettling, like seeing a relative somewhere you don't expect.

Dib had dragged her out of bed at 6 sharp, going over the game plan and trying to get her to have cereal with him. Convincing him that she 'just didn't like milk' allowed her to heat up some soup instead, at least.

As the sun simmered in the sky, she tugged at the stealth suit. Things that were too tight made her twitchy- luckily, their masks were still folded up, not to be donned until the last minute because they made everything 'kind of blurry' apparently.

"Okay, he's eating what appears to be an alien candy bar."

"How do you know it's alien?"

"It's got weird writing on it."

"Maybe it's just from overseas."

"I know what most Earth languages look like," Dib said, still laser-focused as Zim pushed the door open. Twix peered through a hole in the boxwood bush when Zim started his march to school, gnawing on her lower lip.

He looked like the house.

Almost _exactly _the same.

Yeah, okay, Dib's voice didn't sound _too _different, but the rest of him was compressed into a littler package and over-manic, dialed up since he had nowhere for all that conspiracy theorist to go. As he'd grown up, he'd grown into himself, she realized that now. Zim was _already _in a little package, and at her last birthday they'd ended up equals in height. (Except for their antennae, where he was still taller, something she looked forward to beating by thirteen.)

Sure, this version of him was slimmed down a bit, but he hadn't even changed his _ wig _in twenty years. (Or at least the style, she doubted this particular one would have survived that long considering how often he blew up.) The same pink shoulder pads and military boots, the same tunic and stride. It was uncanny, and to be honest, it was a relief when he turned the corner and out of sight. Dib had pulled on the mask and was already heading across the street, backpack coated in the same material as the suit. (Twix had an identical one, since overalls and a skintight suit didn't exactly mix.) She quickly donned her own mask and followed him.

Aaaaand it _did_ make things kind of blurry. She had to step carefully.

They crept into the neighbor's yard. Some cheesy sitcom's music was blasting out of the window, and Twix's antennae flattened. Ugh, did they _have_ to leave the window open? And Papa had to deal with this all the time… thank goodness they'd gotten new neighbors by the time she came around.

Dib scaled the fence, and she reached for the slight shimmer of his hand. He grunted as he helped pull her up, and she bent her knees to not roll her ankle weird as she landed in the grass. In the front yard, the gnomes didn't move.

"Yessss," Twix mumbled to herself, and Dib gave a thumbs up. At least it could have been a thumbs up, he could have been waving at her for all she could see. Some sort of hand-y motion, that's all that mattered. He pulled a crowbar from his backpack, prying open a purple porthole-looking thing from the back of the house before handing it off to her. Carefully, she set it down as he wiggled his way in, legs-first.

Dib mumbled something to himself that she couldn't quite hear, and she pushed on his head, hearing a POP as he was shoved through the window-hole and down into the first level of the lab with a series of thuds. He tumbled over something, biting back a yell as he- tripped? Man, it was hard to tell with the suit. That was a real design flaw, not being able to see each other when they were both in them. She shimmied through the window behind him, managing to land on a stack of boxes that were full of- well, a lot of odds and ends. Some had mechanical parts, some had jars full of something goopy and fleshy, but _all_ of them made a tremendous crash when she landed on top of them.

"Quiet!" Dib hissed.

"You knocked over the others!" Twix gestured over at said toppled others. Considering the noise he'd made when _he _landed, he'd _definitely _hit something, so he had no room to judge. She stuck her tongue out, before it just struck already-sweaty mask.

"You- oh, nevermind." Dib rummaged around for a minute before pulled the map out of his backpack. "We're on the entrance level, this is where he's got the experiments he needs to be able to transport fast."

The bio sector. "That's the one with animals. Right?" The 'right?' came a few seconds too late, but he didn't seem to notice, simply nodding.

"Right. The computer's down in the main core, so we need to get down-"

"Can't it hear us?" He sure could at home.

"I don't-"

**"I can, actually. Hello, tiny annoying human. _Humans_, unless Dib's voice got higher and even more annoying over the past few days and started arguing with him."**

"Come _ on! _" Dib looked up at the ceiling before fiddling with the EMP. He'd glued a suction-cup to it, and he flicked it on before suctioning it to the nearest wall. The lights around them flickered, and there was a low moan.

"Uh…" Twix looked around, waiting for either the computer to throw them out or to make violent death-gargles. Dib had _ better _be right that this was only strong enough to last a few hours, if she didn't have the computer as a kid she _definitely_ would have died while fussing with Papa's experiments. It would be a shame if _that_ was the ripple effect that kicked her bucket.

The lights came back on, dimmer than before but with enough to still see._ "Emergency systems online," _a calm voice informed them from the speaker in the corner. Dib nodded.

"Alright, so we didn't have to be in the core. Good to know for future reference." Dib grabbed her hand. "Now, all the extra tech stuff is on the top floor, so we'll need the elevator. Let's just hope Zim's little robot thing-"

"Who said that?" Glowing teal eyes popped up from under a bundle of cables. Dib was about to reach into his backpack again when Twix stepped forward.

"Let me handle this one."

"He's really unpredictable-"

"Trust me, I've got this." After a moment of rifling through her bag, Twix curled her still-mostly-invisible fist around a jawbreaker she'd borrowed from the pantry back at Grandpa's house. "Hey there, Gir."

"Hi, voice!" He looked around, and she smiled to herself. He looked shinier, less dented from decades of wear. It was a nice change, for once.

"I'm a ghost, and I'm gonna give you a treat."

Gir clapped his hands together with a series of metallic clinks. "Ooooooh, I like treats!"

Twix let her fingers fall open, exposing the jawbreaker as if it had been produced from thin air. He let out a 'wooooow', reaching for it, but she held it up high.

"I'll give it to you if you promise to count to six thousand while you're eating it. Can you do that for me, Gir?"

"Okiedokie!" He snatched the candy, immediately sucking on it and starting to drool as he started counting numbers. Twix's steps were light as she walked around him, (and barely avoided tripping, the blurriness from the masks was really, _really_ annoying now) and Dib followed close behind, taking glances back from the movement of his head.

They made it to the elevator, and Gir didn't blink, continuing to count even though he'd somehow jumped to a number that started with 'seventy-twelve'. Dib pulled the mask off, panting. "Man, those things get hot… how did you know to do that?"

She shrugged, yanking her own off. "Easy, I- just saw he looked like a kid and thought bribing would work?" Nice save there. Good job, Twix.

"But the number thing?"

"Eh, people did that to me when I was little. It was a good way to keep me from moving. He'll lose track of the numbers soon, but he'll have forgotten we were here by then." She looked up. "So, the elevator'll still work with the computer out?"

"It should," Dib said. "Computer, take us to the parts level."

The ceiling hummed, but didn't move. Her turn. "Elevator, storage level?"

_"Destination: Storage level,"_ the same calm voice as before informed them. Dib raised an eyebrow at her.

"How did you know what-"

"Just a guess." She shrugged. "My next guess was going to be ship level, or box level, considering he seems to keep everything in boxes."

"Makes sense," Dib said, running his fingers over the elevator walls. "The rust-red color is weird, he generally seems to prefer a purple aesthetic. Maybe it's pre-programmed in. The floor's still pink, at least."

Twix watched as he traced where the seams met, humming happily to himself. To him, this could be the day they caught his greatest rival.

Or more than caught.

_ "So." Dib had pointed with his spoon, milk dripping from the end and splashing the table. "You wanted to know about the box." _

_ Twix perked up. "I did, yes." _

_ "I already told you I can modify the EMP to short out the base's computer. I'll do that right before we leave, so the charge will last as long as possible. Well, I'm working on a gun that'll fire an EMP that shorts out Zim's Pak." _

_ Twix's nails dug into the soft flesh of her palm, the cold of the spoon leeching through the skin. "An EMP?" _

_ "Mhm! I managed to get a bug on the Pak for a whole six hours once before he noticed. Or his robot ate it. One or the other. Anyway, that gave me just enough data to figure out its weaknesses. I'll be able to disable it for five-minute bursts- long enough to significantly weaken him, but short enough that it won't kill him on accident until I want him dead. Gaz said he was a drooling idiot when she was taking him to the show when it-" Dib cut himself off, clearing his throat. "Anyway, if I can keep him alive but incapacitated and without his weapons, all we'd really have to worry about are his claws and teeth, which are manageable. Especially since I'll be bringing gloves and I can find a mouth guard once we-" _

_ "I thought we were trying to avoid him," Twix said, one knee bouncing under the table. "That's why we're going now when he's at skool." _

_ "We want privacy to get the parts. There's a chance the gun might not work, and I want to get what we need before confronting him in case it goes sour so we can have what we need when we run. If we get in and out fast, we can bring the parts back here and then deal with him. Don't you **want** to help keep Earth safe?" He scrunched up his eyes and his nose at the same time, and she nodded. _

_ "Yeah, but-" _

_ "I'd normally do it in two trips, but with you, we can do anything, especially since you've got experience. You said you were a good shot, right?" _

_ "I've- shot some other cryptids before. How big is the gun?" _

_ Dib grinned. "Not that big- the box is mostly for the extra bits and parts I don't want to lose. Do you want to be the one to do the honors, then?" _

_ She took a sip of her soup. "Give me a bit to think about it." _

She shifted the straps of her own bag. The gun was dark blue, with a ring at the end. Two thin pieces of metal connected the ring to the barrel, and if she had her way, it was never going to get fired.

Armed combat was one thing, but something unfair like this was uncalled for. It was like stealing candy from a baby, except after you'd electrocuted and hogtied it. Sure, she trained with Zim when he wasn't using Pak weapons before, but if you managed to restrain him... he could squirm like nobody's business and talk up a storm, but against _Dib-_

_ "Storage level," _the elevator said coolly. Twix nodded up at it as the doors slid open, and Dib swished out. How he _ swished _without his trench coat was a mystery, but it was the first verb to come to mind, so she was using it.

The storage level was a complete mess and only half-lit. Boxes were in rows, at least, but they piled on top of each other, some half-opened. A gnome as tall as she was stood guard in the corner. Fortunately, the eyes were dark. Deactivated. Some of the boxes had handprint scanners on them, faint pixels running around the edges to show where to place your fingers. Well, there had to be a crowbar around here somewhere, if worst came to worst they could just pry or bash it open. Aside from the boxes, there were transparent cubes littered with fur and scales. Leftovers from failed experiments, maybe?

"Hey!" Dib called over to Twix as she had been about to pick up a box labeled 'snack rations' in irken. "What do you think this is?"

"Hmm?" She looked up to see that Dib had taken off his glove to wave her over, and she weaved around the boxes to stand next to him. He was staring at a cabinet that smelled faintly of maple syrup. "It looks like a wooden cabinet."

"I _know_ it looks like a wooden cabinet. Why is it _here?_" Dib leaned forward. "It smells nice, at least, although there's something kind of rubbery under the waffle smell."

"Any pancakes or waffles that are in there would be gross and stale by now," Twix pointed out.

"Yeah, but who puts leftover waffles in the _cabinet_ instead of the fridge?" Dib tugged out a notebook and pen from the front pocket of his pack, scribbling something down. When she leaned over his shoulder, she managed to make out 'possibly stolen' and 'attempt to replicate earthen kitchen furniture?'

"Shouldn't we be looking for the parts?"

"We will, we will," Dib said, tongue poking out of his mouth slightly as he held out the pen towards the wood. "Hmm…."

"I wouldn't touch that, it might be rigged."

"Come on, he's got it in storage, it's probably broke-" Electricity lit up the suit and the scent of burnt hair and singed spandex thickened in the air.

Twix couldn't hold back a giggle- Dib's mask had been hit the worst, and the suit had flickered into visibility. He yanked the mask off, although it had melted enough that removal took quite the valiant effort.

"I _told_ you not to touch it."

"Why would he electrify-"

She bent over, holding up a clipboard that said _ 'CONTAINMENT TEST: KEEP GIR FROM FOOD SUPPLIES, TAKE 4'. _ "You tell me."

Dib dragged a hand down his face. "Let's just find the parts already, this suit is even _ hotter _now."

Twix ruffled his hair playfully, biting back a yelp when the electricity still coursing through it briefly made her suit flicker before it faded back into invisibility. "Aye aye, captain."

"You look for these." He tugged a crumpled sheet of paper from his now-visible pocket, shoving it at her chest.

She nodded. Then, she realized he couldn't see her nodding. "Got it." At that, she turned and started examining the labels. "Can you read irken? They're in a mix of Irken and English, and… Spanish for some reason?"

"I've got English and Spanish, I don't know irken too well yet. I'm still working on it." Dib tore the tape off a box, before lifting up a bumpy oval tray. "Why does he have a whole box full of corn-shaped plates?"

"Don't ask me. I'm assuming Gir ordered them." Twix sunk her hands into a box full of metal parts. They clinked and clanked as she shifted her arms around, grabbing things at random before comparing them to the sketches Dib had drawn up. Behind her, Dib went through three more boxes before finding one with similar parts.

"There's so much _ junk _in here- he's only been on Earth for like a year, but this place looks like my garage and Dad's been dumping junk in there since before I was born."

"Maybe they're for schemes that never panned out." She let a doll flop around in her hands- it felt like it was stuffed with melted wax, and yarn hair felt crispy as she rolled it between her fingertips. It also felt vaguely haunted and she murmured a protection spell for herself before she buried it under some fur rugs. "He doesn't sleep, remember, he's got more free time than you do."

"I guess, but it's still strange." Dib was doing something behind her that she could barely hear, but it apparently was going well from the lack of angry commentary. He was still talking, sure, but the tone was lighter, and what she caught was mostly just narrating what he was seeing. The floor creaked as he walked up behind her, tapping her shoulder as he adjusted his backpack.

"We can check out the computer's main core after this, if I can get a sample of some of the data I can hack into his systems much easier," he said. "I'd take the brain, but I don't think we can get out without something in place."

"There's backups in here somewhere," Twix said dismissively.

"Really? How do you know?"

"...Just a hunch."

"Huh." She turned and he was staring at her. "Do we… move in or something? You seem pretty famil-"

"Dib! I _ thought _I smelled your wretched human hide stinking up my base." Both Twix and Dib whirled around.

Zim stood in the doorway, arms crossed and wig and contacts still on. Twix opened her mouth before snapping it shut, eyes wide.

"Hey, I thought you'd be in skool!" Dib's eyes widened, and Zim waved a hand.

"Eh, there was an explosion and some of the skool council members started melting in the sunlight. It smelt like burnt toffee. The worst kind… anyway!" He pointed an accusing finger directly at Dib. Why didn't he- oh, she was still invisible! Invisible enough that if she didn't move he wouldn't see her in the low light in here. "What are _you_ doing in here? And why is my base's computer less talk-back-y than it usually is?"

"I shut it down, Zim, so it listens to me now too!" Dib grinned. "Computer, tie him up, he's the intruder!"

Cables sprung from the ceiling, but Zim snapped his fingers. "Zim is irken and your master,_ he's _ the intruder!"

The cables lunged forward, curling around Dib and crunching his backpack. Zim grinned at the sound, but Twix sucked in a breath.

No, no, no no no no no!

"Trying to steal, eh? Not anymore! You should know better than to try to take the property of the irken elite. Now! Let's see how well you can steal when your fingers don't have any bones in them!" He ripped his contacts off now that Dib was properly restrained, eyes _glittering._

"Hey, I like my finger-bones!"

"I'm sure you do, Dib, I'm sure you do. Now, computer! Open a cage while I prepare the experimenting table!" Zim turned and stalked out of the room, and Dib let out an 'oof!' as the cable chucked him into a cage with lilac bars that had opened up in the corner of the room, the door slamming shut before he could even lift his head.

Twix sucked in a breath at that before turning to stare after the space where Zim had been.

"Well, shit."


	7. Breaking Down the Rivalry Tango

"Get me out of here!" Dib hissed, looking around frantically as he stood up. "It's lucky that didn't break my glasses when it was flinging me around, I'm going to wring Zim's _ neck _for this."

"Coming!" Twix scurried over, weaving around the boxes. Okay, get him out, _ then _ deal with Zim. One step at a time. She started digging around in the backpack. Where was her lockpick kit when she needed it? Sitting on top of her desk twenty years from now being useless, probably. Swiss army knife? Nope. Granola bar? No. She briefly considered jamming one of the ship parts in, but they'd already lost _ Dib's _ metal bits, they didn't need to lose _ hers _too.

She scanned the room. "Do you see anything to _ help _with that 'getting you out' thing? I'm taking suggestions."

"That looks like a crowbar over- or there's that." Dib crawled back in the cage as Twix lifted up a large, weirdly heavy bat. She slammed it into the bars, and- nothing happened. Well, not _nothing_, but it barely dented, and Zim was going to be back soon. There was no time to widen the gap with batting practice. Carefully taking hold of the corner bar, she scuttled up it like it was a jungle gym, looking for a seam or screw.

"There's got to be _something,"_ she muttered, and Dib held up a hand.

"Just give me the bag, maybe I can- gah!" The cage shook from Twix rattling the top, knocking Dib off his feet. She carefully avoided knocking out the chain keeping it up.

"Do you have a blowtorch or something- no, it would probably take too long to melt." She tapped her chin. "Let's see, let's see…"

Dib reached up. "Give me the bag, there's always a weak point and I can find it faster. I've been in cages more than you have. I assume."

"Don't be so sure of that." Time-outs were never fun. Still, she dropped it through the bars, and Dib unzipped it, starting to rifle around. She scanned the room. Ah, there _was_ a crowbar, just over-

The cage dropped, and she bit back a shriek, claws digging in on instinct to help her cling as it plummeted through the floor, landing in the lab with a slight bounce. The chain rattled as the metal swayed. This was more medieval than she expected from home. She'd think Dib would have a giant birdcage, not _ Zim. _Maybe he'd had a giant bird at some point?

"Now then!" Zim rubbed his hands together, lab goggles on and wig off. The laugh that came as he looked over Dib was _ off. _ The inflections were the same as always, but a layer of loathing she'd never heard directed at Dib overlaid it, and it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. He was excited, but to the left.

The only way she could describe it was _alien_. Not in the way that made her proud to be different, the way that dunked ice down her spine and spun the world on a tilted axis, uncertain and bizarre and confusing.

"How do you feel about being de-boned, Dib?"

"I think you need to check on your little robot," Dib said with a raised eyebrow, and Zim whipped around as there was a crash somewhere out of sight.

"GIR!" Zim ran off, tiny boots pattering on the tile, and Twix slid down the cage, landing on her toes before straightening back up.

"There has to be something- ah!" She spotted a blaster tucked behind the computer console and hurried over to it. "Move out of the way unless you want to lose an arm."

"Got it." Dib shoved himself against the left wall, and Twix's tongue poked out of her mouth a bit as she aimed for the middle of the cage.

It was a blaster clearly meant for Zim, from both the size and how the trigger felt against her fingers with a slight indent meant for irken claws. It didn't _quite_ fit with one finger, but she couldn't cram in two, so one worked for now. A few seconds of squeezing the trigger and the bars melted under the heat and pressure. "Let's go."

"Man, having a partner is _ so _ much better than having to wait until his back is turned. That can take forever sometimes. Did you know that I glow in the dark sometimes now? Zim's experiments are the _ worst. _"

"Glowing in the dark sounds cool." She should ask Papa if he could do that for her sometime.

"Not when you're trying to do a stakeout and the cryptid's sensitive to light, it's not," Dib said, carefully avoiding the smoking slag.

"So we're going back to- home, right? Right, of-"

"Come _ on_, we're already here, we need to find more parts!" Dib grabbed one of the bags. "We're already in, he's going to up the security once we're gone. Do you really want to come back when he's _ ready _ for us? I've seen what he's like when he's paranoid, it isn't pretty. Have you ever seen the scars under my nipples, or-"

"All right, all right, I get it, I don't need to hear about your nipple scars." Twix waved her hand and reached for the other backpack. "Back to the storage level?"

"If I thought we could get away with it, I'd just steal the whole Voot, but I'm pretty sure he'd do a lot worse than a couple of removed bones if we took his ship." Dib tapped his chin. "Back to storage? That's where he'd think we'd go. No, we need to find the parts on the ship itself. He doesn't know what we're looking for yet. It might take more time, but you can be a distraction. He doesn't know you're here yet."

Twix nodded. "I lead him off, you get the parts, you go home, then I go home. Got it."

Dib held up a hand, and she smacked it in a high five. They turned to the elevator, hurrying over to it. Twix looked up.

"Computer, ship level?"

A soft hum before it started to climb up past the lab again. Dib sucked in a deep breath. "Ah, we're so close I can almost _ taste _ it." He smacked his lips. "Speaking of, does the air taste weird in here to you?"

Twix shrugged. "Maybe he keeps the air regulated differently. He _ is _an alien after all, what are the odds the oxygen mix is the same on Irk as it is here?"

"Good point. I always figured his Pak just dealt with that."

"Probably, but there's no harm in making it easier on himself," Twix said, scratching at her head. Gah, the stupid mask was making her antennae itch like crazy. Dib muttered something that she couldn't hear, but before she could ask, the doors slid open.

The ship level was much cleaner than the storage one, and it had a big window to boot. Twix peeled the mask off, running a hand over her head to make sure her sweat-damp hair was still sufficiently hiding her more inhuman attributes before walking over to it when Dib started checking out the Voot.

The view here was more familiar here than it had been in the city- everything was a bit brighter, but not by much. Things didn't change in the suburb on the fringe of the city the way that they did in the thick of it. A few houses had been painted different colors and there was some kid smoking on the front lawn across the street, but ignoring him, it was just like home.

She needed to focus. Dib was already making humming and clanking noises as he started unscrewing parts.

"So I just… wander around until I find him?" Twix asked.

Dib shrugged. "Whatever you think will work best. Just don't let him catch you. There should be some smoke bombs in your backpack, I brought them for just this reason."

Twix grinned. "And lighters?"

"Front pocket. He'll probably be able to see through them better than you can, but it's still going to knock him off balance. Be ready to run, but also to hide."

"Bomb, run, hide. Easy enough." She rummaged around in the uncrushed bag for the bombs. They were bright blue, at least, so they were easy to spot. The lighter had the ML logo on it, and she stashed it the little plastic bag the bombs had been in. Now it was a floating plastic bag since she couldn't exactly fit it inside the suit without it getting really lumpy and not zipping right. Well, he'd know something was there anyway, not much she could- oh! She pulled the stealth fabric from the outside of one of the backpacks, pulling one bomb out and wrapping the fabric around the bag. _ There _we go. It was wrinkly, but better.

"I'd go with you, but we need to get these parts off the ship." Dib nodded at her. "Good luck. If he captures you, hopefully he'll just start asking questions and I'll have time to rescue you if you don't come back soon. It shouldn't take too long, and he won't get distracted if he could just shove you in a tube when he knows I'm still around messing things up. Probably."

"Makes sense. Let's just hope he doesn't want to play with the new toy," Twix said, taking a deep breath before slipping back into the elevator.

As soon as the doors slid shut, she ran a hand through her hair, antennae bobbing up. Having to keep them pressed flat against her head for days on end was starting to make them ache, and having to wear a tight mask on top of that… ugh, she didn't look forward to going back to skool after this.

So. They were in the base. She could find a good hiding spot easily, and already knew the exact right place to toss a few bombs to muck up the whole ventilation system and keep Papa running around like a chicken with its head cut off. However, some of the Voot parts were now bent or broken. Hopefully there was something to fix them back at Grandpa's house, because she didn't look forward to trying to get back in once Papa inevitably stepped up his security, Dib-Dad was right about that.

She could try to find the parts by herself, but Gir or Minimoose would probably be stationed in the storage room now. Gir she might be able to get past, but he could be loud and would tip Zim off. Minimoose, though? Forget it. If he thought she was a threat, she could kiss her cover goodbye.

Think, think. What to do, what to do? "Elevator, take me down to the lower labs, by the living quarters."

The elevator began to move, and she leaned against the wall, chewing on her lower lip. "Geat. This is the kind of thing where I'd try and think of what _ they'd _ do, but they're not even themselves. The themselves I know, anyway. How on Earth did they even _ have _me?" She tugged up her goggles to rub the heels of her palms against her eyes, bursts of blue and green blooming from the pressure. "Right, irken romance is different from human romance, fated rivals, 'wear a mouthguard on your first date', blah blah blah. Still, even an accident doesn't explain how schmoozy-schmoopy they get when they think I'm not looking, so what gives?"

The doors slid open, and Twix tugged the mask back down, hair curling around her neck and soaking in the sweat there. Ew. Her fingers flexed as they curled around the bag and the singular bomb, tiptoeing out into the maze of rooms.

This was the kind of familiar she could use to her advantage. The room that would become hers was near the end of the hallway on the left side. Every one of the rooms on this level had probably gained a new purpose over the years, but the layout was going to be the same, and she'd spent her first six years exploring them and knew it inside and out. As long as she didn't run into anything, she'd be fine.

Better not say that out loud and jinx it.

Twix grabbed one of the cables that were wider than she was tall that lined the wall, then used the metal ring frames that kept it in place to climb up and settle down. There was a bit of an indent between two cables, plenty of room for a skinny kid to rest and think.

Dib needed her to be a distraction. She could do that. She held up a bomb, before considering and pulling out another. They were starting to wipe powder onto the suit the longer she held onto them, but she juggled them in the fingers of her right hand for a bit anyway.

There was no way Zim was going to suspect this particular vent, and would be busy for at least another twenty minutes once she sent them up. She could check out the rest of the lower level, find out what things had been like, the things they wouldn't tell her. She was a big girl, she was going to be thirteen in half a year, and they couldn't keep a secret if they didn't know she was even here. After years of wild stories, she'd always wondered.

On the other hand, did she even _ want _ to know? Their rivalry in the brief snatch she'd caught didn't seem as fun or as romanticized as they'd made it out to be, all passionate battles of wits and strength until they realized they were stronger together, and taking a detour could lead to something happening that would affect her future. (Or potentially scar her for life.)

It was all a mess, the same way an animal was once you'd sliced it open and spread them over the table and it was hard to believe all of that could fit under skin and fur fifteen minutes ago. She wasn't sure she could put it all back together again, even though obviously things _ had _ worked out. This morning of twenty years ago, Dib had gushed over breakfast just how his alien guts might look and 'what we could learn from them', in a way that implied he didn't want to bother with piecing him back together afterwards. (She'd admittedly had similar thoughts about Tulip, but she wanted to keep those soft cheeks smiling once she was done seeing how she ticked, this just _felt_ different.) _ Zim _seemed to be having some fun, at least, and Dib has been almost calm when he'd sent Zim after Gir, but…

But maybe her existence here was throwing a wrench in the works, and Dib just wanted to impress her? That could be it too- she couldn't pull herself out of the equation. He'd probably heard that she was interested in cryptids and dialed up his hatred for Zim because he knew she needed to raid the base anyway to get back home. As long as nothing was permanent, who was she to judge the back-and-forth tango that ended with her here to see it for herself?

Twix had never heard about the EMP gun, though, and that surely would have been a fun story. Maybe he'd just never gotten a chance to use it, but maybe her being here had nudged him somehow. Or maybe it just never worked, and wasn't worth mentioning? As long as he didn't get a chance to fire it and find out, everything would be fine. Depending on how quickly he managed to get the ship parts, she could just usher him back home and then find a way to discreetly snap part of the gun and they could go back to just wrestling around, doing non-permanent stuff. He _ did _ still need to keep Zim from destroying the planet, after all. It was a balance.

She was seeing the parts of him he didn't want her to see- surely if she'd landed at the base instead she'd be learning something about Zim she'd never known before. This was all fine, and besides, they had years of growing to do. As long as Dib kept Zim occupied and away from destroying the planet and Zim kept Dib from losing his drive, she'd be along in seven to eight years once that grappling between them shifted to possessive affection. She was getting all worked up over nothing! She'd never know what was here in the past-base until she found out, and what kind of self-respecting investigator didn't grab the bull by the horns? Sure, it could be messy, but it could also be enlightening! Do it now or forever wish you had, right? Right. Besides, all she could do if she went back upstairs was watch him take the parts out. Boring.

They weren't doing anything worse than any of the countless other times they'd dueled that she already knew of, she just wasn't seeing it through rose-colored glasses now and was getting the truth, thorns and all. She knew they fought all the time, and that they were pretty intense even as the parents she knew. Besides, she was never going to get a chance like this again.

She flicked the lighter a few times before it ignited then lit up the smoke bomb, gently lobbing it upward into the vent where it bounced off the top and rolled a bit. Success. Doing the same to the second one, and after some thought, adding a third, she shimmied down the cable. That should fog up the main lab if the pipes hadn't been re-routed between now and the butterfly incident a few years down the line. The sulfur smell would distract Zim as much as the visual impairment would, with plenty of time to spare for some high-quality sneaking.

Twix rubbed her hands together and grinned.


	8. Smoke

Twix had twenty minutes. Less, considering time was easy to lose track of down here so she needed to be careful. (She'd gone _ days _without seeing sunlight before, wandering the labyrinthine halls and poking at old, half-forgotten experiments.) Fist tightening, she held the bag of remaining bombs in an iron grip as she eased open the nearest door. It was full of person-sized tubes, one containing a kid that looked about eight or nine with some huge purple and orange thing screwed into his head. He had a big twitchy smile, though, so he was probably fine, even if it reminded her of a horror movie poster she'd seen once. _He_ wasn't going to get out and tattle on her, at least.

The next room was jammed full of cans of Spam, which she could only assume was either a scheme yet to bear fruit or some impulse purchase Gir made. Possibly both. It also had a poster of some boy band she'd never heard of. Too bad she didn't have a camera, this would be great blackmail once this whole thing smoothed over and she got un-grounded for messing with the space-time continuum. (_Spam_, of all meats?)

The next few were far less interesting, mostly equipment she'd seen before or caged animals that weren't doing anything but pecking at their food dishes. Booooring. She was about to turn back, but there was one last room at the end of the hall, and she'd burn with curiosity if she never found out what was inside it.

Getting closer revealed a sign that had been physically taped to the door, written both in English and Irken.

_GIR, STAY OUT!_

Considering there were crayon drawings all around both the paper and on the surrounding door, it hadn't had much effect, and it tugged the ends of her mouth like an invisible fisherman had hooked them. Something Gir was banned from wasn't that unusual back home, but something Gir was banned from when there was _only _Zim's stuff here? It must be important.

Twix twisted the knob, but it was locked. Okay, plan B. She pulled off one of the gloves, popping one claw out and starting to wiggle it into the lock. Her kingdom for her steel picks.

After nearly snapping it off her finger, she tugged the glove back on. "Come on, come _on…_ open sesame?"

The door swung open. She blinked. "That actually worked?" Oh, right, the computer was operating only on its base functions, it probably assumed she was Zim. Score.

She took a step into the room and clapped her hands, and the lights flickered on. It was- geez, it was a mess. Not as bad as Dib's room by a long shot, but Zim was usually pretty neat, and when she pulled the mask up again, this room had the smell of half-melted ice cream and ink.

It was easy to see why, when she took a proper non-blurred look around. It was smaller than some of the others, but there was a large computer, an empty container of vanilla ice cream, and a thick stack of newspapers. She crossed the room to pick one of them up. "DIB IS NICE", it declared above a photo with him posing next to a trio of ghosts. She scanned the article- yep, he'd discovered them. Weird that he'd never mentioned this, he'd always said he never got proper recognition as a kid except from Zim and maybe the SEN.

The next paper helped give better context- apparently soon after, it had been discovered to be a fraud. No wonder he never brought it up. Considering Gir was waving at the cameras, it must have been one of Zim's schemes. Made sense why he kept it, then- proof of victory and all. There was another one about some kind of cyborg cow person-thing with Dib's hair that she assumed was along the same lines.

A few of the papers in the stack were duplicates, but the majority of the volume was taken up by various articles about Dib working at the Labs. He was decked out in a cute little coat that had a high collar like Grandpa's. She had one in her own closet and wore it when she needed extra protection for experiments, but he was tugging at it like he was overheating. Grandpa was in a few of the pictures- in one of them, he was holding Dib up like that one scene from King of Lions. In most of the pictures, though, Dib looked... pretty happy?

Twix turned to lean against the table while she read and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Dib in the corner. "Gah!" She banged her hip against the table, but he didn't move. Closer inspection revealed that one of his eyeballs was also missing, and there were welded seams along the side of his head. "A robot?" She kept a tight grip on the paper as she strode across the room, examining it up and down. "Zim built a robot replica of him? But… why? I guess it could be useful, but it doesn't look finished." Tapping on its forehead, she faintly remembered a story about Zim trying to blow up the world and using a Dib robot to do it, but she was also pretty sure either Dib or Gaz had ended up with it… maybe that just hadn't happened yet? Or this could be a prototype.

Actually… she scanned the room. There was an anatomical chart of a human with Dib's skool photo pinned to the top on the opposite wall, and between the newspapers and the robot… the grin returned.

"So Dad had a closet, and Papa had a secret room." She skimmed the article again. "He must have been devastated when you stopped chasing him around if he saved all of these." The article was about how he was finally coming into himself as the son of the Membrane Empire, and Grandpa had a hand on his shoulder. The slight wrinkles below his goggles told her that he was smiling. Rummaging through the papers, a few had been childishly scribbled on, but with a purple marker instead of Gir's crayons. One had been torn up with furious claws, shredded directly through Dib's body, and she clucked her tongue, shuffling through until she found one that wondered over why he'd mysteriously disappeared from the limelight again. "At least Dad came around, that couldn't have ended well to keep away for too long."

Other than some miscellaneous objects clearly stolen out of pettiness, like a pencil that was chewed to hell and back inside a test tube labeled 'toxic', there wasn't much else in the room. Still, she grabbed one of the torn-out articles, folding it up as small as she could get it before stuffing it into a fold in the suit.

Twix was heading back to the elevator when she saw Zim before he saw her. She pinned herself to the wall as he stalked out of the elevator, swatting at the smoke that was billowing out as soon as the door opened. "The Dib has gone too far this time… I'm going to remove his _ teeth _for this. See how much he enjoys eating his beloved Earth-sauces when he doesn't have any teeth!"

Gir was bouncing along aside him- still sucking on the jawbreaker, Twix noted with some delight. "All kind'sa sauces!"

"Wretched, wretched sauces, Gir… like everything on this filthy little rock," Zim shook his fist. "I'll flush the air out in the lab, then we'll have to find him by ourselves since the computer is! Still! Down!" He kicked at the wall, inches from Twix's knees, and she held her breath. One of his antenna twitched.

"Gir, have you been eating chicken again?"

Gir tapped his chin. "Have I?"

"Oh, never mind." Zim pulled back, marching down the hallway. Gir looked around, before sniffing at Twix's feet.

"Shoo!" She muttered as quietly as she could, nudging him with his boot.

"Okay, invisible lady. You got any more candy?" He looked up with wide, slightly flickering eyes, and while holding her chest, her fingers tightened over...

This was a bad idea. This was a _ very _bad idea.

On the other hand, it _ would _be funny.

"I do," she whispered. Twix flicked the lighter again, plucking out one more smoke bomb and lighting the fuse handing it to him. Even if he ate it, it was _ Gir. _ She'd seen him eat firecrackers before, _ nothing _could kill him. He lit up, grabbing the 'candy' and stumbling after Zim.

"Look what I-!" Gir started, before he proceeded to fall flat on his face as the fuse burnt down. That was her cue to get out of here. Twix raced for the elevator just as the smoke started to fill the hallway- those things were _potent._ The doors slid shut and cut off Zim starting to scream and Gir giving a cackling laugh.

"Sh-ship level," she stammered out through a peal of giggles, pulling the mask up and off. "Dad's going to think this is _ hilarious_." The elevator didn't move. "Okay, okay, sorry- ship level." The walls around the elevator begin to move this time, and she leaned against it. "Oh, I can't believe I've never tried that at home. Papa won't remember by the time I get back, will he? If I'm lucky he'll never even know I was here, Dib can just pretend he was stealing parts for his own curiosity. He'd buy that."

The elevator climbed up, up, up, until the doors opened again and Dib was aiming the gun at her. Twix held her now-somewhat-dustily-visible hands up. "It's just me, don't shoot!"

"Right, was just being careful." Dib patted the Voot. "I've gotten pretty much everything that I can out of it. There were a few parts that I couldn't find, but I'll see what I can flatten out in the workshop in the basement from what that stupid cable crushed."

"So we can probably get the ship running soon?"

Dib paused for a moment before replying. "Yeah. You can go home."

She let out a sigh of relief. "Th-_ you're _ going to be worried."

"Don't want to steal from myself, do I?" Dib's hand moved up to ruffle her hair, but she ducked back, pressing her antennae as flat as possible. His hand fell. "What? I took a shower yesterday, and I haven't-"

"It's- it's nothing. I just- don't like people touching my hair."

"Oh." He reached up and ran his fingers over his own scalp, before clearing his throat. "Anyway. So! You managed to distract him?"

"I found a vent and tossed it up in there. Then I gave one to Gir when he got too close, so they'll probably be busy for a while. I heard him start to scream as I got in the elevator."

"Nice job! We've got time, then!" He picked up the backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. "This is the _perfect _moment for-" He winced, one arm moving down to curl around his midsection. The cable must have been tighter than she'd thought. "-For a sneak attack."

"It's not very sneaky if he already knows you're here," Twix said. She pointed behind her with her thumb. "_Or,_ we can get the parts back to the house, and then come back with-"

"We've already got the perfect weapon right here!" Dib waved the gun. "It won't even have to be much of a fight, just one shot and- okay, we might have to still knock him out, but taking out the Pak is a huge advantage. We can end the war for Earth, _ today!" _He tried to push the gun into her hands, but she pushed it back.

"Or we could get captured, _ today." _She pulled the mask back over her head, acid bubbling inside her guts. "I don't want to interrupt this song and dance you've got, but what happens if you get hurt and I can't get home?"

"Song and dance? Twix, this is _ serious. _ I can't just walk away when we're already in, not when we're this close!" He took a step closer, and she automatically took one back. "We need to do this, we're the only ones that _can._ Gaz doesn't care, and no one else understands how much of a threat he is."

"What if he isn't-"

"Isn't what?" Dib's eyes narrowed. "Are you going to tell me that he's not a threat in the future? Because the only way I can see that is if he's taken care of, which is what we're going to do right now. You might not know him as well as I do, but you trust me, don't you?" He reached for her shoulder, fumbling for it for a moment with the invisibility aspect before he tried to squeeze it reassuringly. "Don't you?"

Twix swallowed. "I… do. But this is different. If I tell you something else about the future, will you listen to me?"

His hand fell. "Depends what it is."

"You _do_ get the better of Zim." In a manner of speaking, anyway. Him having your kid counted, right?

"And?"

"And that's it. I'm not saying anything else." She made a motion to zip her lips. "I'm zipping my lips right now, if you can't see it."

"Come on!" Dib started pacing in a tight circle. "But if I do it now, I'll have extra time to do whatever I couldn't in your timeline!"

"I can tell you, if you _do,_ I won't-"

"It's so simple! I know it has to be hard for you, but I can be better for you then if I do this now!" He spun, a wide grin on his face. "We'll be unstoppable, and if you're worried about your future, you can always just stay-"

"Dib-beast!" Twix and Dib whirled around to see Zim, with Gir still at his heels. "You'll pay for stinking up my lab with your nasty smog-machine!"

"Zim! I thought-"

"The filtration system finally kicked in, and the computer's backup alerted me to intruders on the top floor. What are you doing- what did you _ do _to the Voot?" A huge gun emerged from the Pak, and the skin between his eyes wrinkled in the way that usually came before a lot of yelling.

Dib glanced over at Twix, who was waving her hands frantically. "Something I should have done a long time ago." He raised the gun.

Twix could see it playing out. Herself starting to flicker from reality as Zim's limbs started to spasm, Pak code decaying with each shot and body following suit. Dib cradling her body as she blinked out of existence, or worse, leaving her there to haul Zim's body down to the Eyeball HQ. She wouldn't put it past him, especially if there was nothing left to threaten her in the base with Zim gone and the computer half-shorted out.

Or maybe she'd be stuck, unable to return to a future where she'd never existed.

Dib's finger tightened on the trigger, and Twix sucked in a breath and took a step to the left.

Directly between the gun and Zim.

"Oops!" she called out before the wave hit her. It wasn't even visible except for a few sparks, but it slammed into her chest like a rocket, driving her back a few steps as she flickered into visibility. Zim said something behind her, some vocalization of confusion, but fuzz muffled her antennae, the suit crackling with misplaced energy.

It ran up her guts and twisted them into a knot and then unwound them again, little shocks darting through the soft tissue. It was different from when she got sick, shocks marching on the outside of the guts moving in instead of inside moving up.

"What are you _doing?"_ Dib's eyes were wide, and his fingers loosened around the gun. "I had a clean shot!"

Gir waved. "Hiya!"

"Who is_ this?" _Zim snapped out.

"None of your business, you lizard!" Dib took a step forward, and she shook her head frantically. Wow, had it always been this dusty in here or was her vision going?

"It's _ my _ base, it _ is _my business!" Zim was getting closer. She thought. Wasn't an EMP only supposed to short out electronics? That was the whole problem in the first place. Why did her head feel like it was stuffed with bumbly-bees?

"Don't touch her!" Dib waved the gun at Zim.

"I tripped," she said to the air, waving her hand like a big long noodle before smacking her own face to keep herself aware as the electricity's crackling died down. Focus, Twix! Zim was getting closer, that was the first thing, and he'd pointed at Dib and Gir was going after him, and-

And Dib had thrown Gir off and tackled Zim, and they were rolling around on the floor now.

She pulled the mask up just enough to get rid of that awful blur, and Dib tried to jam the gun against Zim's Pak but Zim smacked it away. He snarled up at Zim, who'd risen up on his Pak legs, before Dib kicked out a boot. He knocked Zim down _ just _enough to grab his arm and yank him down on top of him. The Paklegs retracted as they began to wrestle on the floor, Zim tugging at Dib's hair and Dib grappling at whatever he could reach, mostly Zim's hands and uniform.

Twix almost shrugged the mask entirely off, but there was no way she was coordinated enough right now to keep her antennae down, so she left in a hat-beanie-position. She bent forward, grabbing the nearest thing spilling out of the backpack.

It was- curved. Metal and curved, with a sharp point on the end. That was all she could tell, but it didn't matter much for what she was about to do.

If this was the same timeline as home, she was getting grounded forever.

"You can't just bring a _ human _into my secret base!"

"Hey, _ I'm _a human!"

"You don't count, you're _ Dib!_"

"I'm human and I'm going to-"

"Gir! Capture the Dib's tool-human!"

"Yessir!" Gir's eyes flashed red before he lunged for her, and she lifted the metal piece like a bat, slamming into Gir's head and sending him spinning across the floor with a 'wheee!' before turning to Zim and Dib. Dib had shoved his fingers into Zim's mouth, and Zim was trying to spit them out. Twix raised the metal, grimacing.

_ Sorry, Papa. _

Twix swung down, but Dib turned at the last second and she swerved, driving the point into the ground. Her parent's continued arguing faded into loud, hot fuzz to her antennae as they rolled around on the floor, and she braced a foot against the piece, tugging as hard as she could.

"Come on, come on-"

"Can I get that for ya?" Gir asked. She turned.

"Huh?"

"That shiny there."

She took a step back. Thank goodness his memory was worse than swiss cheese. "Yeah, you can."

"I'm Artie!" Gir stuck his tongue out and pulled at the part until it popped out, and she gave him a pat on the head for it.

"Thank you, Gir." He beamed, rocking forward with a smile until Zim snapped at him.

"Stop helping the enemy!"

"Aw, but the monkey's nice!"

"I know the- it's an ally of _ Dib's _ so it's an _ enemy _of ours! Not a friend!" Zim let out a warbling yell as Dib managed to get a good hit in. "Bring it over to me!"

She kicked Gir to the side- she'd be sorry but he did worse to himself on a daily basis- and ran over. Zim was thoroughly distracted again when Dib yanked at his antenna, and she swallowed, lifting the metal up again.

_ Sorry, sorry, sorry... _ She could feel the air resistance against her wrists as she brought it down on Zim's head, giving a kick to the indent on the side of the Pak that always left him woozy when it got hit for good measure. He turned to her with wide eyes.

"Wha…? How dare you!" He rose a Pak leg, and she jumped out of the way quickly enough for it to only brush her as it ground down her right lens. She didn't hesitate before bringing the piece down again. Zim's body swayed before slamming into the ground, pink blood oozing from the site of impact.

Dib stared up at her, wiping at a cut on his face. "You-"

"Come on, before he wakes up again!" She grabbed his hand, yanking him up and glancing over at Gir, who'd started sucking on one of his feet. "Gir won't be distracted forever."

Dib grabbed the backpack. "He's vulnerable-"

"We've got the parts, you'll get another chance!" Her fingers tightened around his wrist.

Dib chewed on his lower lip for a moment before letting her lead him to the elevator, glancing back at the pile of Zim on the floor as the door closed. "Fine. Another time."

"Ground floor," Twix said, leaning against the back wall, and the computer didn't argue, elevator jolting before beginning to move.

She'd knocked Zim out. He'd be fine, he was incredibly resilient, but still, the momentary horror in his eyes, seeing herself reflected in them… a chill rode up her spine like sense-drunk wasps trying to find their way into her brain.

"That was a good shot," Dib said, holding the half-crushed backpack to his chest.

"Yeah, well, most things will go down if you bash them over the head with something heavy," Twix said dryly.

"I'll keep that in mind." Dib's eye twitched as the heavy backpack nearly slipped out of his arms, and he shifted one hand to help keep it up. The elevator spit them up from the trash can after smushing them together so they could both fit.

Dib brushed himself off as well as he could while holding the bag, and Twix sucked in a deep breath. "Now then." Dib looked around. "All things considered, that didn't go too badly. Neither of us really got hurt, unless- you didn't run into him when you were down there, did you?"

"...Nope. Definitely not."

"Well, he knows I have a friend now, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Dib headed for the door but turned back to make sure she was following, the cut on his cheek starting to sluggishly drip red. "The gnomes might not shoot us if we come from the inside, but walk fast, okay?"

She glanced back at the kitchen, the healthy hum of the normal Computer's presence absent even as Dib gave her a reassuring smile.

"Okay."

* * *

A/N: Dang, I keep forgetting to update this over here, don't I? Oops. Sorry! As always, I super appreciate your reviews, hugssssss!


	9. Mirrors

"Ow!"

"Hold still and it won't hurt for long- it started to scab over and I'm wiping off the scab gunk when I'm cleaning it out, okay?" Twix stuck her tongue out in concentration as Dib's eyes dropped to the floor.

"I know, I know," he huffed as she patted at the cut with a warm, damp washcloth. They had made it back to the house (although the gnomes had singed both of their butts on the way out) and Twix had immediately stripped out of the suit to pull her turtleneck and overalls back on, stuffing the newspaper clipping from the secret room into her pocket. Her skin had never been so glad to breathe in its life. Dib picked at the sleeve of a t-shirt he was half-sitting on as she worked. "He was right there, he was _unconscious…_"

"And we couldn't have gotten the parts back here if we'd lugged a body around, could we?" Twix sighed, eyes sweeping the room to give herself a second to think. (He _did _have some cool posters.) "I... know it has to be frustrating, but things will work out."

"Riiiiight." Dib lifted his glasses to rub at his eyes. "Speaking of that, by the way, how do you know the base so well?"

"Huh?" She pulled the washcloth back, wringing it out over the bowl. Pink spread out from where the bloody water splashed down, dying the water in ripples.

"The base. You knew how to deal with Gir, you knew what to tell the elevator- heck, you didn't get lost when I told you to go cause a distraction. It took me _ months _to map the place out properly, but you knew how to get around just fine."

She immediately threw up a smile that she hoped looked natural. "Eheh, I don't know what you're-"

"Do we move in or something? I can totally see myself doing that, once the Eyeballs gut the place of everything that's useful. You could set up all kinds of traps and it's a maze, it'd be a lot safer than a normal house like this, especially if I made an electric fence." He quirked his head to the side, before squinting and reaching out. "Oh, geez, did he get you in the eye?"

Twix raised her index and middle finger to her goggles, swatting his hand away with the washcloth. "Oh, this?" There were spiderwebbed cracks running up the side of the right lens. It was annoying, but nothing she hadn't dealt with before. Past experience told her that they weren't thick enough to actually see the pink of her eyes through them. "No, they're pretty thick. I can still see just fine."

"I've got some extra glasses if you-"

"No, your prescription's different. It'll just be blurry." She paused. "Unless it changed? I don't know if that's the case with glasses as you get older. But anyway, I like my goggles." And, y'know, they stayed on her head without tape.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I'm sure. Thanks, though."

"No problem. Do you know what they're made of?" Twix shook her head as he reached for the washcloth, but she set it in the water. "You're positive he didn't get you anywhere? What did you do with the smoke bombs?"

"I just found a hiding place and lit a few, and then tossed them where he'd get distracted by them. Once he wasn't going to see me, I headed for the elevator." Twix unscrewed the cap of the hydrogen peroxide. It wasn't nearly as good as the gel stuff from the med wing at home, but she had used it in skool a couple of times, and Dib had nodded approvingly when she'd swiped it from the medicine cabinet while getting the washcloth, so it was probably fine. She poured a bit in the cap, then dabbed it with the end of the washcloth. "This might sting."

Dib hissed when she pressed it hard against the cut, the peroxide bubbling white with flecks of pink. "Who taught you first aid?"

"You, mostly."

"...I walked right into that one," he muttered, flinching as she wiped it away with the other end of the cloth.

"How come you're whining about this but you were fine when you were _ getting _the cut?" She raised an eyebrow. Dib shrugged.

"Adrenaline, probably. It's different, in the middle of a fight. There's just the two of us."

"Makes sense." She set the washcloth back in the bowl, grabbing a box of band-aids and the roll of gauze. Unrolling the gauze, she tore off a piece before setting it under the bandaid and carefully settling them both over the cut.

"What happened when you got in the way of my shot?"

"I tripped."

"You tripped," Dib said flatly.

"Yes. Yes, I did." She looked up. "How come it hurt me?"

"So you _ are _hurt!"

"It's gone now, it was just like… being electrocuted, but only halfway. I've had the real thing happen, this wasn't quite as bad as that, I just got dizzy and my stomach felt funny."

"The shot was supposed to immobilize him, and I _might_ have overcharged it. It probably just reacted badly with the suit. You said it faded already?" Twix nodded, and Dib clicked his tongue. "You're probably okay, then. I wouldn't worry too much unless you start feeling side effects, but tell me if you feel like crud, okay?"

She nodded again, then grabbed the bowl and stood up. "I'm going to wash this out, is there anything else that needs to be dealt with right now?"

He looked up at her, raising his fingers to the bandage before shaking his head. "No, it's mostly bruises. Those just need time."

"And Zim won't crash through the wall seeking vengeance?"

"He's never done it before. I think he's got like… a code or something, considering he never just snipes me in my sleep."

"All right." Twix nodded, careful not to slosh the pink water onto her fingers as she navigated through the mess to nudge the door open with her hip. Gaz was still at skool, as far as she could tell, so the house was theirs for the next few hours.

She dumped the bowl's contents in the sink, thanking the stars that the water was filtered as well as it was while she washed her hands. Smoking fingers when she cleaned him up would have been suspicious. She took a moment to splash water on her face after wringing the washcloth out further and hanging it over the shower rod. Geez, she needed another shower, that stupid suit had her sweating like a pig and now her hair felt clammy and limp. She locked the door before climbing up on the bathroom counter next to the sink, and leaned towards the mirror to examine herself.

Skin? Sweaty, but normal. Check. Hair? Limp enough that it was probably safer to undo the ponytail at this point, ugh. She slid the rubber band down her hair and snapped it around the fabric on her wrists. Check. Goggles… she drew in a breath. Dammit, she'd liked these- they'd lasted almost nine months. At least she could always just get the lens replaced. It didn't show any color unless she got really, really close to the mirror.

Dib didn't have much of a sense of personal space but- he wasn't exactly staring into her eyes like he was trying to hypnotize her. Besides, she could always try and borrow Grandpa's if it cracked any further, he usually left a few pairs lying around. She'd dealt with losing her goggles for a day or two before and she hadn't lost any skin or fingernails this time.

"Hoo-kay." Twix smoothed a hand over her hair, running a finger up her good antenna to stay calm. "It's fine. We've got at least most of the parts, and I can probably convince him to let me go back alone if need be. If he thinks he'd move into the base, I won't have to lie." She winked at the mirror and gave it a finger-gun shot, even though she couldn't actually see her eyes through the lenses. "You've got this, Nebula. And you'll have a heck of a story to tell Tulip when you get back, right? Right."

She hopped off the counter, carrying the bowl back to the room. It could go back into the kitchen when they went down to eat something. Dib had gotten up and sat at his desk, and she plopped down on the bed behind him.

"So, how soon can you start fixing up the ship?"

"I need to see what we've got first." He gestured over to the backpack of crushed metal. The bag that had been left mostly unscathed had been settled in the garage between a big glove thing and a busted robot head that looked like Dib. (Which proved that the one in the lab probably _ had _ been a prototype.) "We might be able to just… flatten it back out with a hammer."

"That's good, right?"

Dib sounds around. "You don't want anything too busted or you might end up dropped somewhere else along the timeline. You don't want to fall out when Earth is spinning somewhere else in space and you suffocate, do you?"

"...No." She grimaced. "Suffocating in space is number two on my 'worst ways to die' list."

"What's number one?" Dib raised an eyebrow.

"It's a tie between drowning and bleeding out."

"Huh. Mine's probably fire but those would suck too." He turned back around, and she set a hand on her growling stomach.

"I'll go make something to eat."

"Sounds good." He nodded and she grabbed the bowl before heading for the door, sparing a glance back. As she watched, he absently tapped at the bandage in thought, eyes darting over the computer screen as he read something.

It was easy enough to pour a can of tomato soup into two mugs and pop it in the microwave, and she dropped a pair of mini waffles into the toaster. Plus, it gave her time to look around again.

There was a little dusty food dish tucked in the corner, and without the video game noises from the living room, the house was uncomfortably quiet. Yeah, there was the fridge right next to her and occasionally the creaking pipes from somewhere behind her, but base-home back in the future was always full of noise of every kind. If someone wasn't yelling, something was probably wrong. _ This _place looked lived-in and abandoned at the same time, and not the fun kind of abandoned. The kind that drove Papa into one of his cleaning sprees that resulted in half her wardrobe getting steamed down to atomic dust.

When the waffles popped up and she moved to put them on the tray, she paused. Geez, she was acting like a babysitter or something. He was her age, he shouldn't need… well, he _ wasn't _ eating as much as he probably should. It wasn't like he usually had her around. He ate breakfast fine that morning, but now that she thought of it, he'd only really eaten when she'd asked for food. Besides, it wasn't like it was exactly _ hard _ to pour something in a bowl or pop down the toaster. Maybe they could make something together tonight once they finished with the parts? He was a decent enough cook in her time, he had to have learned it at some point, right? He probably just got too lost in dealing with the parts right now, he was like that at home too.

She scooped a little jam on the plate before pulling the mugs out of the microwave, setting them on the tray too and bringing it back upstairs.

"So, any progress?"

He pulled his headphones off and quickly clicked around on the screen as she entered the room. "Er, not much. We'll want to go down to the garage to get the good pieces. But on the bright side, a few of them look like they were barely dented, so it won't be hard to get them back to their original shape."

"That's good!"

He nodded. "Uh-huh. Ooh, what did you make?"

"Tomato soup. I also made some waffles to dip in, or I had some jam if you didn't want to do that."

"You dip grilled cheese in it, I guess that's not that different." He smiled as she set the plate down, grabbing her mug and waffle and hopping up on the side of the desk that had been swept clean of miscellaneous papers.

"So what were you doing on there anyway, categorizing them?" She lifted the mug, taking a sip as he pulled up a folder.

"I have a blueprint of the inside of Tak's ship. It's not perfect, but it'll do. I've got every part labeled by number in case I ever managed to get them, which…" he waved back at the bag again. "We've now done. So! It's a different model but we'll figure it out as we go, I'm sure if Tak managed to put hers together out of trash, as the ship let slip once, we can put the Voot together out of actual Voot parts."

"Sounds like a plan." Twix smiled, lifting the mug. He picked up his in return, clicking them together. A bit of soup sloshed on his wrist, but he licked it off, and she laughed into her hand.

"Don't judge me, it's good soup!" Dib protested, pushing at her.

"I'll laugh if I want to," she said before pushing his chair back with her foot. The wheels spun as he rolled until it hit a box and bounced off. Dib took another sip of the soup, slurping loudly, and with the eye contact he made, she was _ pretty _sure it was to annoy her. Well, two could play at that game! She pressed her antennae down to not have to listen, slurping her own soup down. It burnt sliding down her throat, and when she finished, they stared at each other for a moment before breaking into a peal of giggles.

"Well, that was stupid." Dib grinned. "What was that for?"

"You were slurping too loudly."

"I was?"

"You- oh, nevermind." She grabbed a waffle, smearing a bit of jam on it before dipping it in what remained of the soup. In response, he wheeled himself back to the computer and hit a few keys. The printer started to grind like teeth in a blender. Twix watched as it spat out a few papers. She stuffed the rest of the waffle into her mouth before picking them up and shuffling them around.

"Wow, you're good at this."

Dib beamed. "I do my best! Now, to the garage!" He slid off the chair, easily grabbing her hand and pulling her out the door. She held the papers tightly to her chest as they headed down the stairs and through the kitchen to the garage. Dib let go of her to scoop up the backpack of parts as she sat next to the Voot.

"So, you're going to-"

"I might as well get started. Now that I've got the parts, we can get a better idea of how much work there really is." He dropped the bag and then plopped down, sliding himself under the ship. "Wrench?"

Twix popped open the toolbox and handed it over.

A few hours later, Dib had managed to get himself coated in oil _again_ (she was seriously starting to wonder if they were going to need to go get some of that too; how much oil could one Voot even _hold?)_ but had managed to work about three of the pieces into place. He kept up a running commentary as he worked, and once she managed to steer him away from talking about Zim, it was... nice. Familiar, although his voice was obviously different. It was clear he wasn't used to being listened to- at one point he pulled out and stared at her when she asked him which variation of vampire bee he'd been talking about.

"Huh?"

"There's a couple- I know the honey ones are easier to deal with, but the bat crossbreeds-"

"I- I think it's the honey ones? They're yellow, with red spots."

"Those are the honey ones." She nodded. "If you can't speak to them, bribery works. Carrying sweets can be a risk, but it's a good distraction if you aren't completely swarmed. You said you knew where the hive was, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I do, it's just that I ran across them when they were hunting." A smile spread across his face. "Thanks."

"No problem- you'd probably figure it out eventually." She shrugged.

"I would have, but still." Dib tilted his head. "You're good at this, aren't you?"

"Hmm?" She dug around into her pocket. "Oh man, I think the worm escaped..."

"The worm?" He shook his head. "Nevermind that. I mean, all this. You just rattled off something I'd probably take a few days to figure out. Are you sure you can't tell me more? Just stuff that'll save my butt in the future?"

She mimed a zipper motion over her lips. "Nope. You'd figure that one out, that's the only reason I'm telling you."

"I'd figure out anything if you know it, right? Since I can tell you?" He raised an eyebrow, but it was her turn to shake her head. She wasn't falling for this, no siree.

"Nope. Nope nope nope. I'm going to sit here and be quiet now. I can do that."

"Suuuuure. I was just asking." He started undoing the bolts on the ship, and she scanned over the sheets again. She'd marked off the parts that they'd already replaced, but… ugh. At this rate, it was going to take _ days. _ Maybe he'd mentioned it before, but now it felt _ real. _

"It better not be days back home," Twix muttered.

"Future-me is gonna be worried, huh?" Dib asked, and she nodded.

"Mhm. I've never been gone this long."

"Not even for camp or anything? Kids do that, right? Dad sent me to space camp once." Dib shifted one of the parts around, then up and down, glancing back at the blueprint to make sure he was putting it in right.

"Let me guess. No alien talk?"

Dib nodded. "They banned it. Day camp was all the scientific processes of how stars go supernova and figuring out what nebulas were. Not as bad as having to spend a week doing flat equations, since at least there were _ some _phenomena out in the woods and the telescopes were good, but…" He sighed, blowing up at his hair. "Just _once_ I want him to meet me where I am, you know?"

She nodded. "It's too bad nobody's around right now to tell you you're right."

He balled up an oily towel, chucking it at her. "_You _ exist, don't you? Unless you're some trick to get my guard down, sent by-"

"If I was a trick, I would _ not _have committed enough to sleep in your room," Twix countered, catching the towel and lobbing it back before wiping her hand off on a nearby cardboard box. "The lab, maybe- it's colder, but it's also got a lot more cool stuff in it."

"Hey, my room is full of cool stuff!" Dib protested.

"Okay, your room _ does _ have some pretty cool stuff," she admitted, "But you also _ really _need to deep-clean that floor. If that's where the worm escaped, it's going to live a long and happy wormy life among your old shirts and the food crumbs."

"Why were you carrying a worm around anyway? Is it a _paranormal_ worm?" He leaned closer.

"Just wanted it." Twix shrugged. "I like collecting bugs, and I can just add worms to the compost. I just kinda forgot about this one, honestly. It's not paranormal as far as I can tell, but it _ did _like dandelion bits and cheesy puff crumbs." She turned away as she pushed up her goggles and rubbed her eyes.

"Ah." Dib picked up the sheet, shifting the oval piece before jamming it in further. "Anyway! That's good for now- besides, I want to see the news to see if they said anything about the explosion at skool."

"But-" The sun was only now going down, and it wasn't like he wasn't a night owl, and the longer she waited, the more chance something-

"It'll be fine until tomorrow, I promise, okay? I'll close the garage door, and Dad's not going to be home for a while. Gaz barely ever comes out here anyway."

She glanced over at Tak's ship. "And the ship?"

His face twisted in confusion. "I'm still working on- oh, you mean Tak's ship! Yeah, I think it can go into shutdown mode when it wants to, since some days it doesn't say anything. I already convinced it that it's better to leave this alone."

Twix chewed on her lower lip. "Fine. But this is my _life,_ you got that? It's not that I don't like it here, but time travel never goes well for the person who wants to stick around, does it?"

"Depends on the story you're telling." He grinned. "Worst comes to worst, if something happens, we can fiddle with the prototype time machine Dad has at the lab, so you'll be fine, okay? Come on, I'll make popcorn."

At least she was in good enough company. "Okay, but I don't want any butter on mine." She pushed off the concrete.

"Works for me." He grabbed her arm and lifted her up the rest of the way.

Twix settled down on the couch as Dib carried over the bowls. She'd grabbed the mugs from upstairs and dumped them into the sink while he prepared the popcorn, (and tossed a wet washcloth at him to wipe himself down). Picking up the remote from the coffee table, she clicked on the tv.

The news was just about some company stocks somewhere a billion miles away, so she chose to focus on the popcorn instead. "Are you going to go to skool tomorrow?"

"Depends on if it's open. If it is… hmm. Think I could just tell them you're a cousin?"

"I could just stay here too. The fewer people that see me the better- I can entertain myself for the day."

"Right." He stuffed a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "That... makes sense."

"I can defend myself if anything happens, promise." She made an x-sign over the left side of her chest.

"You had a good teacher, right?"

_ One and two and- you don't stop until your opponent is jelly at your feet, Twix! _

_ Or at **least** knocked out. Manslaughter counts are something you want to avoid. You have the gun's settings memorized, right? Stun if you can, but get out of dodge either way. Keep the safety on if you're storing it in your big pocket, you don't want it going off in there._

"Yeah, I had a good teacher," she said. "I'll be fine."

"Well, Gaz already knows you're here, and with luck, Dad will never have to know." Dib leaned back. "They'd send a message home if skool was off, right?"

"Probably," she agreed, stretching with a yawn. Man, she usually didn't sleep this much at home, but everything had worn her out. Maybe there were some side effects from getting… electrocuted? Yeah, let's go with that. "We'll hear if they call, and you get emails, right?"

"I'll just check when I head back upstairs," Dib said. "Oh, it's on!" There was a brief blip about an 'incident' at skool that involved 'candy', but it was brushed over in thirty seconds. He flopped back on the couch. "Come on, no _ details?" _

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about it. Stuff kinda happens all the time, doesn't it? Usually Zim's fault?"

Dib nodded. "Yeah, but at least I'm usually there to _see_ it." He started flipping through the channels again, and Twix curled up, knees up to her chest.

"Where's Gaz?"

"Her room or the arcade, probably. She'll let us know if she wants the couch."

"Ah." Twix crammed another handful of popcorn into her mouth, a kernel sticking to the fabric on her palm before she licked it off. She yawned again, feeling the skin stretching over her face.

"Tired?" Dib looked over at her.

"Nah, I'm fine."

"It's probably a side effect of-"

"-The getting shocked thing, I know." Twix set the bowl down on the coffee table, and he handed her a blanket that had been wadded up on his side. She wrapped it around her shoulders, and Dib settled on a documentary about the jungle.

"I'll wake you up if Gaz shows up before she pushes you off the couch," Dib said, lightly pushing at her shoulder, and she smiled.

"Thanks." Twix turned, grabbing a pillow to lie down on before closing her eyes. It was warm in the living room, and the soft music combined with the British narrator lulled her off to sleep.

Her chest slowly rose and fell under the soft blanket, far enough away from reality that she couldn't see Dib reach over to tug at the band of her goggles.


	10. Rose-Colored Goggles

Twix yawned.

Then realized she was propped up in a weird position, legs tight against something flat.

_ Then _realized that there was something around her arms, and they were pressed to her stomach.

"Hello?" She was sitting in a chair. It was- not wooden, since it was smooth under her elbows even through the fabric of her sleeves, so it was probably plastic. As she wiggled, though, there was a creak from somewhere in front of her and she froze. It was dark in here, where _ was _ she? Her head hurt, brain thick with muck that made thoughts lazy. "I'm... training in several kinds of martial art, you- wait." Twix squinted. Where _ were _her goggles? Oh, it was fine. Probably. Had her voice come out slurred? "I was… in the living room. What happened?" She scanned the room, taking a wild guess. "Zim?"

"No. Not Zim."

Pause to process that voice. "Oh, good, Dad." Twix wiggled in the chair again- yep, something was _ also _ around her wrists; it clinked a bit when she wiggled them. Weird. Tying her up _ and _ handcuffing her? "If you're trying to test if I'll be able to defend myself if you go to skool, this is kind of overki-"

"No, it isn't."

"Huh?"

"The cuffs should keep you at least a little dazed." A light flicked on, drilling directly into her eyeballs. She couldn't see anything besides white. Why couldn't she see anything besides white? Even closing her eyes didn't help, it was just white-green from the inside of her eyelids.

"A little- what's going_ on? _ This isn't funny!" Twix started wiggling again, but he'd tied the rope tight around her, too tight, tighter than the first time.

"No, it isn't." There was the sound of something hard smacking against flesh and she gritted her teeth. "It isn't funny at all, actually."

"Can you drop the cryptic act? I thought we'd finally-"

"Finally gotten to trust each other?" Dib's voice dropped. "Now _ that's _funny."

Her chest wrung like a sponge as he stepped closer. "...I thought you just said-_ hey!" _ She blubbered and sputtered as something cold and wet splashed down on top of her hair, dripping down her face and between her eyes, droplets sliding over her nose. Her brain was still queasy, and now her stomach was turning as well. "What was _ that _for?"

"No reaction… what even _ are _you?" The light somehow got even brighter, and squinting open one eye just got more staring-into-the-sun, the color doubling over in her vision until she closed her eyes again.

"I told you, I'm your-"

"My daughter, right, right. Then why are your eyes like _ Zim's? _"

Twix wasn't sure if the buzzing was from the florescent light about a foot from her face or her antennae had decided to just stop absorbing outside sound and had begun a feedback loop with themselves because she _ definitely _hadn't heard that right. She'd been doing so well!

"Like- Zim's?" Her eyes. Her _ eyes. She didn't have her goggles on._

His voice pitched up, both in octave and in volume, in beat with the hammering of her heart. "I was _ going _ to fix the goggles. I was _ going _ to do something nice, and see if maybe you might want to stick around for a few extra days. I wanted to see if your eyes were brown." He started clicking. Those were- his boots. Probably. "I can't believe I was such an _ idiot." _

She shook her head, trying to clear it. He'd said the cuffs were supposed to make her dizzy, didn't he? "C-come on, that's ridiculous, it's just-"

Dib actually laughed, frenzied and with a vibrato that drove a spike of ice into her spine. "If you're going to say _ pinkeye_, I'm going to shoot you with this."

Twix froze. "I- can't see whatever you're holding."

"Oh. Right." The light was turned upwards, and she had to blink rapidly. It was blurry, too blurry, she'd almost forgotten how blurry everything was without her goggles, but it was still definitely some kind of weapon. She swallowed.

"What are the cuf-"

"Alien sleep cuffs. They work a bit on humans, but I've never had a chance to test them on Zim. I had to order a new pair, and I'm glad I did. Your eyes are drooping, are you tired? Sick? About to molt and rip my head off?"

"No!"

"Okay, good, it said there might be side effects and drowsiness is the one that helps me most. Half-alien, half-sleepy, right? It's good to know that it probably _ would _work on Zim since you're at least partially irken." He was talking too fast to entirely keep up with, and she gritted her teeth.

"I- I can explain."

"This ought to be good." Scraping sounds battered her antennae, sounds which Twix took a moment to realize belonged to a chair being dragged across the floor. Now that the light wasn't assaulting her eyes, she could see that they were in the basement lab at the house. She was _ definitely _tied to a chair that didn't move when she wiggled around, and Dib had just settled himself down in a brownish blob that she was pretty sure was the scraping-sound chair. Beyond that, she couldn't see anything besides the vague shapes of the equipment littering the place.

"Da-"

"No!" He spat out, and she shrank back. "No. No 'Dad'. I don't want to hear 'Dad'. I don't even want to hear my name, or _ anything _ but whatever half-baked explanation was coded into you, so go ahead. Tell me how you crashed in my backyard, in Zim's spaceship, with Zim's eyes and Zim's antennae and _ my _ DNA, and how you _ aren't _some trick to get me to let my guard down before you empty the lab and take me back for experiments. I took a blood sample when you were out." Rage simmered in his voice, the quiet kind she almost never heard directed at her. It boiled something deep in her guts, heavy like rocks. "There's more irken than human in you."

Think think think think think- "You saw the Voot back at the base! He doesn't have two, does he?"

"People make more than one of each kind of car, he could probably order another one. Is that really the best you've got?" He moved- leaning forward, maybe?

She straightened up, sucking in a deep breath. (It was hard, through the rope, and whatever was making her brain sluggish was weighing her limbs down too.) "Give me back my goggles."

"No," Dib said flatly. "I'm scanning them for cameras."

"There aren't any. Give them back."

"I can knock you out again." Dib held up his weapon-thing. "This thing has a bunch of settings, but it's experimental, that's why it's at the home lab. There's a stun setting, a vaporize setting, a mind-wipe setting... you're at _ least _ a cyborg if not some kind of fleshy hybrid experiment, and it kept you under when paired with the cuff's tranqs while I was tying you up, so it _ will _work."

"I need them to see."

"Close your eyes, then you won't have to."

"I won't talk until-"

"Maybe I'll give them back if you do," Dib countered. "If there isn't any kind of tracking device implanted by Zim in there, if they really _ are _ just like glasses, then I don't have much use for them. So, _ Twix, _or whatever your codename is," The 'x' snarled in the back of his mouth. "Talk."

She was completely, totally, _ utterly _screwed.

So she opened her mouth, trying to squirm an explanation through the ooze in her brain.

"You were... lonely. Zim was gone. You wanted to do an experiment, and-"

"You're lying," Dib said instantly.

She groaned. "How did you know?"

"You just told me." He smirked just enough that she could see a flash of white, of teeth, of a threat display like monkeys at the zoo. "Besides, the light was bouncing off when your eyes darted around, you were clearly trying to think of the fastest lie you could. Not a bad one, though."

Twix took a deep breath. "I was an accident."

He made a noise. She couldn't define it beyond that, a sort of hum that stuck in his throat. "An accident? _ Really?" _

"Yes, really, shut up and let me tell it!" She wiggled for emphasis, the rope only digging tighter as she did. "You had a truce with Zim for a couple of years at that point."

"So we decided the best way to mark that was-" He groaned. "You're- you're just- no way!"

"I _ said _shut up, I'm telling it my way! Do you want to hear it or not?"

Dib groaned. "Fine. Let's hear it."

"It was- irken reproduction's weird, okay? All they've ever told me is that I have to be careful about kissing or biting anybody, in case that's how it works for me too." She shook her head. "You think this is _ easy _ explaining how I came around to my own _ dad?" _

"I _ told _you- so you're sticking to the "Dad" thing?" She couldn't see well enough to be certain, but the waving motion paired with the mocking tone made her sure he was making air quotes. "Even though I'm obviously not?"

"What's _ your _theory, then, genius?" she snapped. "If you won't let me finish mine, I want to hear yours."

"You're some kind of messed-up clone Zim made to get me to drop my guard," Dib replied instantly. "I don't know if you're from the future or right now, but either way, you're a spy." Dib's chair creaked as he leaned forward. "I know he does all _ kinds _of experiments on Earth lifeforms, and I wouldn't put it past him to try and combine our DNA to make some kind of slave-spy. You're smarter than I'd expect, especially considering you fooled me for so long, but he's got all kinds of tricks up his sleeve and I think he's used time travel before. I'm sure he could program you with knowledge about me and my interests."

She swallowed. "That- how can I convince you I'm telling the truth?"

"You can't, if your idea of 'truth' is saying that Zim and I end up together for any reason other than one of us parading the other as a mind-controlled slave."

The rope constricted, nylon biting so much more than any snake's scales could. Twix's eyes darted around the lab, but it all just kind of blurred together in a grayish mesh. The only thing solid was Dib's figure in front of her. He was still leaning forward.

"What do you think he thinks about you?" The question came out quieter than she'd been expecting it to, and Dib sat up a little.

"Hates me, of course, same as I hate him. What, you're going to say he's secretly in love with me? You _ know _ how stupid that sounds, right?"

Maybe. Maybe, maybe, maybe maybe maybe.

"No, I'm not going to say that. Did you empty out my pockets before tying me up?"

"No, you just had a bunch of junk in them, why? I took the wallet, though. Weirdly perfectionist of him to make a skool ID and everything."

"There's something in my pocket I took from the base."

"A weapon or something? Are you trying to _ threaten _ me?" His head leaned forward.

"No, it's a-" She sighed. "It's a piece of paper. I'd grab it to show you, but you tied me up, so-"

"Fine, but if you move, I've still got this." He waved the gun-thing as he stood up, striding up to her.

"There's a bunch of paper in there, you can just grab all of it, most of it is doodles from Tulip or specimen sketches," Twix said as he pulled the rope out just enough to stick his free hand down her front and into her pocket. She twisted her hips and shoulders slightly, allowing the rope to gain slack while he pulled out a wad of paper and a leaf.

"Okay, so. Paper." This close, she could see him raising an eyebrow.

"Open it. It's the newspaper one."

Dib took a few steps back, shuffling through the papers and dropping off the post-it notes and notecards until he found the right one. "What, when I went to go help Dad at the Lab for a few weeks? You got this at the base?"

Twix nodded. "Uh-huh! He's got-" Oh geez, he was going to be so embarrassed if Dib remembered any of this in the future but that was the least of her problems- "A whole room devoted to you."

"That'd be weird. But I knew what we had was pretty special, that's nothing new, and besides, I kind of figured he's got notes on me." Dib balled it up, and claws dug into her chest. "He was a greasy lump when I showed back up, but he shook it off pretty fast. As long as I'm there, he's a threat to the planet's safety! Besides, this isn't disproving my 'spy' idea. You could say _ anything _to try and trip me up. Zim can be a mastermind when he isn't being a complete idiot, and 'he's obsessed with me' is the best you've got?"

"But it's true!" She strained forward, but the chair still wasn't budging. "Why wouldn't I just capture you in your sleep, or- or sneak into the lab?"

"You probably already _ did _ sneak into the lab, since you got in on your own, and were transmitting secrets to Zim overnight." He chucked the paper back at her, and it bounced off her forehead. "And you were _ obviously _trying to get more information out of me, playing the long game. He's done that before."

"Dib-" She started to plead, but he raised a hand.

"So, how well can you see? You're squinting a lot." He pulled out a box-like object from behind his chair. Upon flipping it open, she realized that it was his laptop.

"Not- not well," She admitted. "Something didn't mix right with my eyes."

"Geez, a spy with bad eyes? That's just sloppy craftsmanship. Anyway! I'd like to introduce you to my friends." His voice was ticking upwards again, excitement mixing with the simmering fury and bitter betrayal. Right now, excited was the _last _thing she wanted.

"Friends?" Don't be the Eyeballs, don't be the Eyeballs, don't be-

"The Swollen Eyeballs would be _ very _interested in an alien hybrid, no matter _ where _ it came from. Whether you're a spy or an experiment or whatever, if I hand you over, you'll be the _ perfect _ way to get back trust after the waffle incident, and they'll finally have to give me another chance for my presentation on Zim." He rubbed his hands together. "Agent Ecto says he's working on a truth serum that can work on any cryptid capable of speech, and _ I'll _ get to test it-"

"And if I'm right?"

Dib froze. "What?"

"And if I'm telling the truth, that you really _ are _ my dad, what do you think they'd do, give me back?" She narrowed her eyes, wriggling in the chair again. "No. They'd still rip me apart, the way _ you _ always warned me about."

"Will you drop the _ act _ already?" Dib snapped. "I wasn't your dad, you're just trying to mess with my head! Of all the people I could end up with in the future, Zim is the _ last _one I'd want! I- why would I care about you if all you do is lie?"

"You obviously don't have me _ now!" _She snapped right back. "You don't know how your future turns out, I do!"

"No, you _ don't!" _ He tugged at his hair. "You can't, because you're just a trick sent to mess with me! I should know better by now, I should have been more suspicious because you were too perfect, you were exactly what I wanted and I don't _ get _ to have anyone that isn't either a hyper-friendly freak or adults with _ ulterior motives _ that _ took _ my _ stupid camera _ and my _ best pictures _ and-"

"He thinks you're worthy."

Dib looked up mid-rant, snapping out "What?" mid-sentence.

"Zim. He's told me irkens rarely pick personal rivals anymore, since irken culture is built so every person outside of maybe the invaders are replaceable, so anything that's so individual is frowned upon."

"That's-" Dib started, and she glared in his direction.

"Let me finish! But he met you and _ knew _ that you were going to give him a challenge. Even if Grandpa's got his head up his butt and Gaz only half-listens, he's as obsessive over you as you are over him. You can say I'm lying about the room, but you know him better than anyone." She really wished she could see his face better, because he'd fallen silent. "I didn't want you to know because I knew you wouldn't trust me anymore, but I swear on the fae themselves I'm not lying. You're _ happy _ in my future. I didn't want to mess that up, and I still want to exist."

"You said you were an accident."

"They've never made it a secret, they think it was funny. They love me now, so who cares?"

"This is ridiculous. You're just trying to get into my head." He started typing on the keyboard, turning away. "Agent Mothman, signing in."

Twix shifted around in the ropes, but they weren't budging nearly enough and he still had that gun. He could be- no, he wouldn't be bluffing now. There were weapons lying all around Grandpa's lab all the time in her time, there's no reason to think they wouldn't be now.

"So, is there a reason your antenna is busted up?" Dib asked, almost casual.

"I'm not telling you that."

"It probably just got slammed in the cloning pod when Zim made you, right?"

She turned her face away, and Dib got closer again, and she tried to lean back as he reached for her face but couldn't- there was no room, he was-

He stuffed a rag that tasted like dust in her mouth, muffling her sudden protests. "There we go, now you won't put any ideas in their heads and can't keep messing with me. I should have just done this in the first place." Dib turned back to the screen." Come on, come on, pick up…" Something blue flickered on the screen, and Twix swallowed.

_ Twix, you need to be very careful around the Eyeballs, alright? Tunaghost is sworn to secrecy and likes me okay, but the other members don't know about you, and I can't risk you getting hurt. If anyone asks, you're just sick, and you _ ** _cannot _ ** _ let them see your eyes. If they find out you're half-alien, they'll gut you like a _ ** _fish_ ** _ , got it? _

She knew she'd asked why he was still a member, and he'd given her some half-babble about how they were the only people he could really talk to about other cryptids. She couldn't remember anything other than that, and besides, it didn't matter now.

The screen flickered on as she writhed against the ropes and Dib flashed her a grin that she usually only saw when he was about to make a kill.


	11. Latex Powder

_"Agent Mothman? _

"Reporting, Sir."

_ "So, have you captured the alien? Or at least gathered some of its technology so you can send it in _ ** _properly _ ** _ this time?" _

She could only see a shadow on the screen and its bright red eyes, but- relief flooded her as she remembered that they only conversed in silhouette. They couldn't see her yet.

"I can do you one better. You know the 'daughter' I was telling you about? I've discovered that she- _ it _was a spy by that same alien. I haven't figured out why he did that yet, but I would be happy to deliver it instead, along with the tech we took from the base. It's more than half-alien, and it responded to tranquilizers just fine, so if someone could come and pick it-"

Twix struggled against the rope as Dib turned away, biting down on the cloth to keep herself quiet. When he glanced back, she fell still, glaring at him.

_ "Half is enough for the Network to be interested- good work, Mothman! Have you filled out the paperwork?" _

He froze. "Paperwork?"

_ "Yes- acquisitions require the proper forms. Tax purposes, you know. I'll send you over the files. And you're a minor, aren't you?" _

"You said not to tell-"

_ "If this really is what you say it is, then everyone is going to know who you are soon enough. You know the rules, Mothman, and you don't want this starting on the wrong foot. Can you keep it restrained for a few days while everything is put in order? I'll call for a conference once the specimen is delivered. They'll listen if it comes from me." _

"I-"

_ "I could get you a cage if you need it, we still have an extra one from when Agent Toeslayer brought in the shifter." _

"Can't I just drop h- _ it _off and then fill out the-"

The red eyes narrowed, and Twix swallowed. Somehow, even through the screen, she could tell he was irritated.

_ "Not after last time, and _ ** _not _ ** _ after the incident with Agent Brayn with the 'werewolf cubs'. I know you've had your problems in the past, Agent Mothman, but if this is legitimate, then it will have been worth doing things the right way." _

Dib glanced back at Twix, whose mouth was incredibly dry considering she currently had a gag stuffed in it. "Understood, Agent Darkbootie. I'll deliver both the tech and the specimen as soon as I finish that."

_ "We will be waiting, Agent Mothman. Good job. Darkbootie out." _

Dib groaned as soon as the connection cut. "Ughhhh, I can't believe I forgot I had to fill out the stupid _ paperwork_." He slammed the laptop shut, turning to Twix. "You. Stay here. If you behave, maybe I'll give you back your goggles."

"Mm-mmmph!" Twix squirmed. What was kind of trouble _could _she get into when tied up and gagged in a chair bolted to the floor?

"Good enough. I'll be back in a few minutes." He tucked the laptop under his arm and crossed the lab, heading up the stairs.

She tried to swallow but the rag wasn't allowing it. Her thinking was still clogged by whatever he'd pumped into her while she was asleep, and by the cuffs around her wrists. Those needed to come off. _ Now. _A deep breath rose through her nose before Twix sucked in her gut and twisted her shoulder again to lift one wrist enough to dip her hand into her pocket. He'd taken the paper, but she prayed that he hadn't- hadn't- ah!

He _hadn't _taken the paper clip! She fumbled it into her palm, bending the end out with her fingertips enough to jam into the locking mechanism, clicking it open on one wrist so she could drag her arm over her chest to unlock the other hand. Now that they were open, she could tell there were small needles on the inside, probably to inject the sedative.

She was- still tied up, though. Given enough time, she could wiggle out, especially with her hands free now, but finding her goggles in the mess of a lab would have been a task even if she _ had _ them. (Although, if she'd had them, she wouldn't need to _ look _for them, would she?)

Think, Twix, think. Papa had gone over 'what to do if you're tied up' since she was five, why was she blanking now? Tranquilizers weren't an excuse! Loosen the bindings as much as you can, check. Wait until an opportune moment, and don't be afraid to cause as much damage as possible as you flee. Make them regret ever thinking they could hold you, and leave them cursing themselves for even crossing your path.

...She didn't want to do that.

Yeah, sure, of course she didn't want to ruin the past, but _ that _ already went pots-up, didn't it? Even if Dad didn't believe her about who her other dad was, he sure as heck didn't _ trust _ her anymore, and any connection to Zim made him furious. Looking down as far as she could, Twix wiggled her toes and sighed around the gag. Three on each foot, same as always. She was _ made _of connections to Zim.

Why couldn't she have landed five years later? Maybe they hadn't had her yet, but they'd at least have been _ friends _, and they all could have figured this out together.

Maybe she could go to Zim? No, he was kind of thick sometimes, but he'd see right through her after the incident earlier and she'd end up in a cage for her connections to _ Dib. _Aunt Gaz probably wouldn't care enough to help, so all she could do now was try to play nice and hope for a chance at escape.

Well, this sucked.

There was a clock on the far wall. She couldn't see it, but she could hear the second hand ticking up, up, up. It must be broken if it was loud enough for _ her _to hear, or maybe it wasn't as far as she thought.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click click clickclickclickclick.

"Geez, how do they expect _ anybody _to fill all of this out?" Dib reappeared at the base of the stairs with a thick bundle of papers in his arms. "I'd take Darkbootie up on the cage thing, but I've got one down here already from when Dad was trying to do experiments on bears. I'm pretty sure the bars are small enough that you couldn't slide through one."

"Mmmph!"

Dib dragged a table over, dropping the thick stack on top of it. "All right, I can figure out the personal information stuff later, let's see about the examination." He rifled through the papers. "Good thing we had enough ink, there's like a hundred pages here."

"Mm-mm!"

"I can knock you out again, you know." He held the stun-gun up.

Twix stopped 'mmmph'-ing.

"I started looking at you when you were out." There was the snap of latex gloves, one she was altogether too familiar with from examinations at home. If he had been twenty years older, it would have been normal, it would have been fine, but he wasn't and it was wrong, wrong, _ wrong. _ "I probably should, you know. Knock you out. But I want you to see what I'm doing, and maybe you can give me some answers when I'm done. _ Real _ answers. I can ask them to go easy on you if you just stop _ lying _to me. Give me the answers I want and this won't hurt too badly. You're smart enough for that, right?" Dib adjusted his glasses with his blue-gloved fingers as he neared. "Nod if you understand."

She nodded.

Dib ran his fingers over her lips, then slid the index finger inside. She resisted the urge to bite down as he tugged the now-slimy rag out and stuffed it in- well, from the crinkle, probably a plastic bag. Her blood was pounding and racing up and down her antennae too much and too loudly to be sure. He traced his thumb, index, and middle fingers around her tongue, grimacing. "Yep, it feels like a shorter version of Zim's. It's thicker and more rounded in the middle, with a taper to a point at the end." There were traces of powder on the gloves, and the taste combined with the number of fingers stuffed inside her mouth made her gag as he pulled out. She ground her tongue between her teeth to try and get it off.

"I can't believe I…" Dib snapped the gloves off one by one, balling them up in his fist. "He didn't even _ try _to hide it."

"Your hand is gross," Twix said, unsure of what else to say.

"Yeah, latex tastes nasty," Dib muttered, quickly enough that it probably had come out without thinking.

"So, what? That's it? You fill this out and dump me on them and then wash your hands of it?"

"They'll give me actual recognition for the work I'm doing- and once they've decided what to do with you, I'll be able to extrapolate more weaknesses I can use against Zim. This war will be over."

"Yeah, and so will _ I _." Twix swished saliva in her mouth before spitting it out at the foot of her chair. "Come on, wouldn't he have… sent an adult or something? Somebody you'd be more inclined to trust, or at least that could manhandle you if they needed to? I don't know if you noticed, but I'm kind of terrible at this keeping secrets business and I look a lot like Zim. That'd be pretty bad for a spy, right?"

"Yeah, but Zim can be pretty dumb sometimes. He slaps his alien logo on his stuff a lot." Dib ran his hands through Twix's hair, tweaking the base of her short antennae and digging his nails in just enough to make her squirm. It felt like someone had dumped ants in her skull and they were scattering down her nerves. "This is just another version of that. I assume you can hear through these, right?"

"Yeah. You probably noticed I don't have ears by now."

"I don't know how I missed it before, but yes, I noticed." Dib's fingers moved down, tracing the side of her skull. "There's a little indent in the bone structure, though- I don't think Zim has that."

"Half human. My body thinks there should be _ something _there."

"So, what, did he just dump both of our DNA into the tube and chucked whichever clones didn't work into a garbage disposal?"

"It-" Twix trailed off. He was never going to believe her right now, much less that Papa literally _ had _her. She'd seen the tape to prove it. "It was… something like that."

Dib grinned, ruffling her hair again. "This will be much easier for both of us if you just cooperate. The Network deals with partial-humans a little nicer than they do the purely paranormal, or so I've heard- maybe they'll just put you in the facility zoo or something. I could visit you after the vivisection."

"Oh. Lovely," Twix said dryly.

"So, why didn't you react to the water? Is that just a Zim-thing? I didn't see how- no, wait, Tak reacted when Gaz splashed soda on her."

Twix raised an eyebrow. "If I told you _ that, _ you'd just have another way to torture me."

"Right," Dib muttered. "Can't have that, can we?"

"If you were in my position, would _ you _ tell _ me?" _

"I wouldn't _ be _in your position, I'm not a science experiment."

Twix had to bite her tongue at that. So he _ didn't _ know yet about the cloning thing? It was no skin off her nose at the moment, though, especially considering she needed to be focused on keeping that nose _ attached _to her. Not to mention the rest of her body parts.

Dib's hands kept roaming, muttering to himself all the while. "Maroon eyes that match Zim's, with no sclera. Or pink sclera with no iris and pupil? Either way, the skin around them underneath where the goggles were is slightly lighter than the surrounding-"

"Yeah, yeah, I have goggle tan, rub it in, why don't you?" It was easy to fall back into prickly sarcasm, as if this was just another group of kids at skool that thought she was a freak. Their opinions didn't matter, and this- _ this _ version of Dib shouldn't either, right? He wasn't her dad, not really, not yet, possibly not _ ever _if she'd botched this up badly enough.

Maybe once she wriggled free she could just run off and live in the forest until she figured out what to do. Or find Mr. Bennett- er, Keef- since he'd probably be nice enough to take her in for a while. He was a little smothering but nice. She thought she remembered him saying something about a grandma.

"How long was he training you? Because that kind of thing would only happen over…" Dib shook his head. "No, it's…" He took a few steps back and started scribbling on the papers. Twix craned her neck before realizing that she probably couldn't have seen what he was writing from this angle even if she'd _ had _her goggles.

"Can I have my goggles back yet?"

Dib glanced over at her, and she gave her best and most innocent smile. He stuck the pen behind his ear, looking her up and down.

"Fine, but _ I'm _putting them on you, and only because you squinting at me is getting weird."

"I'll take it."

He hurried across the lab, ducking behind some equipment. She only realized that there was a light on where he was rummaging around when it turned off, and he returned soon enough holding them by the band. He stopped a few feet away from her chair, holding them up to the light. "How do these stay on anyway, with no ears?"

She shrugged as much as she was able. "They're pretty tight."

Dib seemed to find that acceptable, although he was rough as he yanked them over her head. Her long antennae got caught in the band until she managed to twitch it enough for it to pop back up, but she was ready to cry in relief when things finally came back into focus. "Thank you."

"...You're welcome," Dib said after a moment. "Why are you still trying to act nice?"

"Would you rather I spit in your face? I can do that too."

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean-" He groaned. "You're my prisoner and I _ know _now that you're not my friend, so why waste the energy-"

"You're still my dad whether or not you believe it, and being a jerk to you isn't going to make me _ less _tied up. Being nice to you got me my goggles back, didn't it?"

"Okay, I'm taking them back off now, if you were just-"

"No!" Her eyes widened and she turned away, voice practically squeaking "I'll be quiet!" She _ couldn't _lose them, not again. She wouldn't get six feet without tripping over something without them.

A moment passed, then another, and she turned her eyes to look without shifting her head. Dib had frozen with his hand in midair. His eye twitched and he took a breath. "Fine. But no more favors." Dib stepped back to his stack of work. "How would you describe your skin? Not scaled or furred, but not as obviously green as Zim's…"

"Light mint, maybe? You compared it to a zombie's before, but zombies vary as much as regular people do."

He shrugged. "Good enough." Pulling the chair closer to the table, Dib started writing, occasionally looking up to guesstimate something. Twix started looking around the lab for anything useful. There was… a lot of stuff in there. A small pile of metal parts that were pretty much useless to her, the pet dog-cat-chinchilla thing that was sleeping in its cage...

All of it pretty useless from her chair, though. She shifted, butt starting to get sore from the sitting, but the ropes around her legs made it hard to move very far.

"Allergies?" Dib asked.

"Not answering that."

"...Why do they need to know favorite color?"

"Purple." She didn't mind giving out that one. "Sometimes blue."

"Uh-huh." Dib scooted his chair closer then bent over, tugging her sock off. "...Three toes. Not clawed the way Zim's are, but the foot's skinny." He rubbed his fingertips under the sole of her foot, and she had to bite back a giggle. His head popped up. "What was that? Was that a pain response?"

"No, I- _ most _people are ticklish if you tickle them, right?" She looked down at him.

"I don't make it a habit to go around messing with people's feet." Dib rolled his eyes, tugging her other sock off. "Okay, so they're both the same." Back to the papers. "I'll check your hands and chest later."

"You already saw my chest when you were measuring me, I don't have an extra nipple or anything, just lots of scars."

"No, but- will you _ stop _that?"

"Stop what?"

"Stop- _ that!" _ He turned to her, and now that her goggles were back on she could see the way his nose was wrinkling in irritation. "Stop just talking casually! You're a half-alien freak, and I'm going to turn you over to the Eyeballs, and that'll be that, and Zim's going to just have to wonder what happened to you if he isn't monitoring this all through some kind of eyeball implant and writing you off as a loss. Or setting off a bomb implanted in your abdomen, that seems like the kind of thing he'd do too." At that thought, he scooted back a little further.

"He didn't." She paused. "That I know of. I'm sure I've got _ something _in me. A tracking device, probably. I wasn't going to get a self-destruct mechanism until I turned 18 because I 'wasn't responsible enough' for it."

"Tracking device. Right. Well, he's not going to get much out of that, he already knows where I live." Dib glanced around before filling out more of the papers. The loud clock kept ticking, and he groaned as he flipped over the… fifth sheet? Sixth? It hadn't even made a dent in the pile.

"I could help you, if you untied me."

"Nice try."

"Worth a shot." Her stomach started growling. "Um-"

"What?"

"Can I have some toast or something?"

"Seriously?" Dib tucked his pen behind his ear. "No. I'm going to have to hand-feed you pretty much anything since I'm not untying you. Deal with it."

"Just stuff an unwrapped granola bar in my mouth, it's not that hard."

Dib turned away, pen scratching for a moment before pausing. "Actually… you know what? I _ will _go get something." His tone had popped up again, like he'd slapped a smiley face over his vocal cords. It immediately put her on edge.

He headed upstairs, and stayed there long enough for her toes to start freezing in the cool lab. It wasn't as cold as the Underground Classes at skool or the cave system out in the forest, but wiggling them wasn't much help in bringing warmth, even though it kept the circulation flowing. It was a small blessing he'd even left her dressed, honestly. Although... he _ was _still twelve, after all, stripping her naked probably would have been kind of uncomfortable even for him.

She started counting the clock's ticks, then realized that she'd only started when he'd been gone for a while, so it wasn't much help. Still, she counted 752 when she heard the stairs creak and two clicks later saw him carrying a number of bowls and glasses on a tray. It smelled… kind of nice, actually? Maybe he'd had a change of-

As soon as he set the bowls down and she saw what was in them, though, her guts twisted. Or maybe not.

"Let's answer that allergy question, shall we?"

"I'm just going to throw up on the ropes, you know."

"That's a risk I'm prepared to take. I told you there's a cage in here, and I always can get more rope." Dib rubbed his hands together, before clicking a spoon into the bowl of refried beans and lifting it up to her mouth. "These are all of Zim's allergies I've cataloged so far. How many of them do you share, I wonder?"

Twix turned her head away, but he grabbed her chin with his thumb and index finger, sliding his thumb up to push her lips open. She could keep her teeth shut, but once he shoved the spoon against them, it was just a matter of the metal pushing through the tiny gap between the upper and lower teeth. Using his other hand to keep her nose pinched shut, he shoved the spoon back as far as it could go and she gagged, the food sliding directly down her throat.

It didn't stay down for long. Her cheeks puffed up, face growing hot, and Dib barely managed to get out of the way before pinkish slime erupted from her mouth and splattered the ropes, her clothes, and him. It slicked her throat, the acid burning, and she panted with her tongue hanging out as he looked down at himself in disgust.

"Holy- so _ that's _your allergic reaction?"

"C-can I just tell you what the others are? O-or can you at least use my epi pen if I have the rash reaction?" She grimaced, remembering the nugget incident. "If you do that..." Pause for breath, and she swished around saliva to spit out the remainder of the beans and the vomit. "Again, you won't have to worry about bringing me in alive."

Dib's nose wrinkled as he tugged his coat off and peeled his shirt over his head. "If they're all going to be like that, telling me is fine."

"M-milk's the big one. Just plain milk, not when it's made into something else, pizza and chocolate's fine for some reason. I don't get it either." She took a breath, trying not to think about the vomit that was starting to soak into her overalls. "Uh… oatmeal, but only the maple syrup and brown sugar kind. Refried beans like that. Chicken nuggets. Horse meat. Eggplants. Eggs in general but not when they're uncooked for some reason. Almonds and pecans but not peanuts. Celery. Um..."

"Oh, so you _ won't _ tell me why the water didn't hurt you but you'll tell me _ this?" _

"I can throw up on you more directly if you want to test it." She nodded to the table, still a bit out of breath, and he glanced at the bowls for a moment before shaking his head as she spat out the final remains of the ooze.

"...Okay, fine, good point. I'll just run another blood sample through the allergy machine." He headed to the stairs- probably to change.

The allergy machine wouldn't work, she was too irken and it never had, but she wasn't about to tell _ him _that if it might waste a bit more time.

Time. She still needed a way to get more time, to fix time, to get back to the _ right _time. Dib was gone, and she racked her brain. Hadn't he said something earlier? The tranquilizer that was still flushing through her system made recent memories hazy, but…

_ Worst comes to worst, if something happens, we can fiddle with the prototype time machine Dad has at the lab, so you'll be fine, okay? _

Twix took a deep breath and straightened up, starting to saw at the ropes with the edges of the cuffs, using the needles inside of them to pluck the nylon threads apart.

She hoped Grandpa kept his old projects somewhere conspicuous.


	12. Sour Honey

A/N: Content warning for bugs. IDK how to be more descriptive than that without spoiling, but like.. you know those scenes in movies with a bunch of bugs swarming? That.

Also, at this point I really advise you guys just follow the fic on ao3. Not only does it have fanart but I keep legitimately forgetting this site exists, which is why I forget to update and then do a bunch of chapters in a row.

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"Here's the deal." Dib had returned after about ten minutes and smacked his hands down on the chair's arms on either side of her. "This is going to take a couple of days, considering I've got skool. I don't want you smelling like vomit the whole time, because it's just going to make _me _sick. For _some _reason water doesn't affect you, so I'm going to hose you off and retie you up. If I just dumped water on you it wouldn't be enough pressure and would smell gross again, and besides I'd have to mop it up anyway, so we're using the hose outside. If you so much as _ think _of running off, though, I'm going to just knock you out for a couple of days, got it?"

"I'd starve," Twix pointed out.

"Fine, I'd wake you up once a day for something that won't make you vomit, but I don't want to deal with you any more than I have to before the Eyeballs get you, got it? And I'm _ not _ untying your arms."

She nodded as he bent down to start pulling the ropes from her feet. "Got it. Can I have my socks back?"

"When we come back in, they'll just get soaked otherwise." He paused. "I should probably hose the chair off too. Maybe I'll use the cage. You can't melt metal, can you? That vomit could have been corrosive-"

"It would be melting the ropes if it was, wouldn't it?" Twix raised an eyebrow, and he sighed, standing up once her legs had been freed.

"Point taken." He moved around the chair to untie the rope from the back, immediately retying it from the side when it was loose to keep her arms secure. Luckily, the angle meant he hadn't seen the opened cuffs. "Up you go."

"Good, my butt was getting sore." Twix wiggled her hips a little, trying to get the feeling back in them. How long had she even been _sitting _there? What day was it? How long had she been out?

Dib snapped on another pair of the latex gloves (he must have a box somewhere, he'd said he dissected things too, she already knew that) before gripping her by the ropes and towing her towards the stairs. It took a minute to not stumble- trying to walk with her hands pinned in front of her was _difficult_, especially considering she had to focus on not dropping the cuffs and revealing she'd managed to work her way out of them.

"Come on, keep up."

"It's weird walking like this, give me a- yipe!" He tugged especially hard and she nearly slammed into him. "Do you _want _the vomit-ropes all over you? My stomach's still squirmy!"

Dib raised his other hand, wiggling the gloved fingers. "That's what the gloves are for."

"If you tug me hard enough and I stumble into you, then going up to change would have been useless," Twix said, and Dib groaned but stopped pulling her so hard. "_Thank _ you."

"You know, the more you talk, the more of Zim I hear in you," Dib remarked as he started pulling her up the stairs.

"Eh?" Her long antenna popped up, and he gestured up with his free hand like it was a whip.

"Like that!" Dib groaned. "I'm such an idiot…"

"No, I was _trying _to not- I _ knew _you'd react like this, and I didn't want to mess anything up. I still wanna be born, you know," Twix said indignantly. "And you'd be miserable without Zim in my future."

"Without him around to bug me, maybe I'd actually get some work done," Dib scoffed.

"Has the florpus thing happened yet?"

"The _ what?" _

"Oh. That kind of explains it." There'd been a shift after that, at least that'd been what they'd always said...

"What the hell is 'the florpus thing?' "

"You'll find out."

Dib yanked her up the last step. "No, I won't. Just because _ you _ refuse to give up this future thing doesn't mean _ I _ have to listen to you."

"Well, now that the beans have been spilled-"

"_Don't _ mention beans right now." Dib grimaced as he pulled Twix through the kitchen, past Gaz who was sitting at the table with a bag of chips and her Gameslave. She looked up, raising one eyebrow at the fact that Twix had been tied up.

"Do I even want to know?"

"Turns out that she was an evil spy sent by Zim."

Gaz looked back down, bored again. "Duh."

Dib's jaw dropped. "You _ knew?" _

Gaz opened both of her eyes to stare at him. "Dib. She's _ green_."

"Yeah, but Aunt Ellie is too, and she isn't-"

"Just go," Gaz waved a hand, clearly dismissing both of them, and Dib huffed, dragging Twix to the back door.

"Really, if she'd been suspicious, she should have _ said _ something."

"That's Gaz," Twix said with a shrug.

"Stop acting like-"

"-Like I know her." Twix sighed. "Right. Look, have you considered maybe he implanted memories of you guys or something? I really _ do _ know all this stuff."

"That makes it _ more _ creepy, not less!"

"..." Dangit, he had a point. "Just… get this stuff off me, okay?"

He pulled her through the door and to the garage, finding some kind of leash and hooking it to the rope to keep her from running away while he hooked up the hose. It was dark out- either it was really late, or really _ really _late, the kind of late that looped all the way back around to being early again.

"Oooh, you've got a Crazy Bucket in here?" She squinted. "A banged-up one too."

"What, you've been in one?" Dib turned around, hose in hand. She just nodded.

"Mhm, yeah. I've managed to avoid the Crazy House so far, though, probably because you usually step in and nobody is willing to call them on me after the first incident with the acid-spewing squirrels." And thank goodness for it- she knew how to wiggle out of straitjackets better than out of rope, but it didn't mean she _wouldn't _end up tranquilized if she escaped her room. And with _real _tranquilizers, not whatever Dib had managed to get his hands on to keep her under earlier that day. The kind that'd probably put her in the hospital, with her luck when it came to potential allergens. Frankly, the fact that she _wasn't_ a cooling corpse right now was a stroke of luck considering that.

"Riiiiiight." He shifted his thumb. The hose had an attachment on the top- it was one of those pressure nozzles. There was a chugging noise sluggishly straining down the long tube before the water started spewing towards her at high velocity, soaking her completely with enough pressure to force her into a fighting stance to not get knocked over. Thankfully, it was the same filtered water from the house, and after a few spiteful seconds aimed directly at her face, he tilted the nozzle down to try and wash out the ropes and her overalls. They were still going to smell terrible for a while, though.

Twix sputtered but tried not to move- he _was _helping right now. Kind of. Even though he'd caused it and her throat still hurt, at least it hadn't been the hives reaction, or the rash reaction, or the 'passing out' reaction. Really, vomit was the quickest one, even if it _was _the messiest to deal with.

Wow, her standards with interactions with him had dropped a whole lot over the past couple of hours, hadn't they?

"I notice you aren't burning from this either," Dib said, taking a step closer and turning the nozzle to create a single concentrated jet and point it at the middle part of her overalls before shifting it up to her chin to pummel the rest of the goo off.

Twix didn't respond until he turned it off completely. "Uh-huh."

"I'll have to mark that down." Dib turned to put the hose away, and she glanced at the leash. Once she got her hands entirely free, the end part was hooked to a loose board. She could get it out pretty easily.

"Can we stay outside?" she blurted out, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"Look, I'm still tied up, and you've got the leash, and the basement is going to be really, really boring. At least-"

"No way. You're going to be able to escape."

"I just want to be-"

"Outside smells like vomit right now and will for a while," Dib pointed out, and she sighed.

"Fine…"

He moved around behind her to unhook the leash. "At least you're not actively trying to maul me."

"Just wait a week until I'm really annoyed," she muttered. "Where'd you get that leash anyway?"

"Huh? Oh, it was just in the garage with the rest of the junk. I think we had a dog at one point." He was right behind her. He wasn't holding the ropes yet.

She wasn't going to get another chance like this.

Most of her takedown practice sessions had involved the use of her arms, but she could improvise. Twix turned her head just enough to see where Dib was, still holding the end of the leash with specks of dust floating in the air. He was lit by the single flickering garage bulb that bathed him in green. She snapped her foot back between his legs, sweeping to the side hard and fast. She could feel Dib grasp at the rope to take her down on top of him, but she knocked her head back as hard as she could to drive him down, feeling something crunch.

Twix didn't take time to register anything more than a yelp before _bolting. _A glance back showed he was still dazed. He'd always had a thick head. He'll be fine. He'll be fine.

She chewed on her lip anyway as she ran- somehow, it felt different doing it to him over Zim. Maybe it was just that he was considerably less able to instantly heal himself?

Especially after she managed to wiggle the ropes over her head, and when she lifted her hand to the back of her skull, it was sticky. She wiped it on the denim of her overall pants without looking.

Twix jogged her way into to the city, trying to remember the route she'd taken just- _ had_ it just been _yesterday?_ Wow. It was almost funny how wildly things had spun out of control in just over 24 hours. Not funny-haha, funny-bad, although the fact that he'd immediately tried to drug her was a _little _bit funny, in the 'if you start laughing it's gonna end up shaky' kind of way. (She'd stuffed the sleep cuffs into her pocket, just in case.)

The stars were mostly obscured by the perpetual smog that wrapped around the buildings like a scarf. That was fine, she could navigate without them.

At least things _mostly _seemed to be in the same places. A few old/new buildings and a few landmarks that weren't built yet were somewhat frustrating, but she was Nebula Twix Membrane, she could find her way to Membrane Labs with a blindfold on! In theory, at least. It was nighttime, but still bright from the garish lights that bobbed and pulsed in and out as the seconds passed.

There was hustle and bustle- the city never slept, after all. People swept past her. Good, she could blend this way. Most of them ignored her, and she was fine with that, and the ones that shot her funny looks got a rude gesture she'd been told not to repeat. It wasn't like anyone was keeping track right now anyway and it felt good to make people leave her alone.

She'd 'borrowed' a pair of sneakers out of a store display, thankful for her Big Pocket and the fact that by some miracle the chip hadn't shorted out after being vomited on and pummeled with water pressure. Irken engineering! It was weird wearing them with just little nylon inserts instead of regular socks and she'd be sure to have blisters, but she had bigger fish to fry at the moment. She could get some food once her stomach stopped feeling so queasy.

The sky began to lighten as hours slipped by, with strangled birdsong showing that dawn was approaching. She'd forgotten just how far into the city the Labs were... and exactly how to get there on foot. Unfortunately, Dib had taken her wallet with any money she could have used for the bus, and she wasn't about to risk pickpocketing when she wasn't in top form. Ending up in the police station would just make things worse. She just had to stop and sit on the gum-studded benches to catch her breath a few times, that was all.

While sitting on those benches, she watched the busses and the people, cracking her back. Stretching her sore muscles, rubbing at the dry skin on her cheeks, then sliding off and walking again. This would work. It had to. It _had_ to. She clicked her claws against each other, then kneaded the fabric of her sleeves in her hands for something to do with them. The dregs of sedatives and no food that hadn't been thrown up were not a fun combination, and more than once she casually leaned against a wall to get her breath back. Again, she wished for a Pak- energy without sleep, generated nutrition, and healing all sounded _great_ right about now.

Her hair had started to dry, and not looking quite so much like a wet rat had fewer people edging away from her. Anything that brought her closer to complete anonymity was a blessing, at least. Who knew what resources Dib- or rather, the basement lab- had at his disposal to find her? If he'd even had woken up- no, he'd definitely be awake. It had been hours, and he was going to be steaming mad. If she was lucky, she could convince Grandpa that Dib was a threat to her and he could keep her as an experiment for a few days while they fixed up the time machine.

Grandpa.

_That _was a whole newly-confusing train of thought. Dad had always said he'd left him and Gaz alone a lot as kids, but hearing it was different from _seeing _it. How dirty the house was, how little Dib and Gaz seemed to eat and bathe, and how miscellaneous the foods that were there were. She was lucky they'd even _had _anything that wouldn't cause her to have a fit.

Well, she could burn that bridge when she got to it. She'd always liked Grandpa, but this was just… it made her spooch-stomach feel all weird and twisty in a way she couldn't afford to think about right now. Worry about the potential child abuse later, try to get back to her own timeline now.

But what if this had splintered the timeline? The best-case scenario right now was that this was an alternate universe and she'd just screwed things up for some _alternate _ Twix. Considering it was a_ time _machine and not a_ time-space _machine, though… She slid her goggles up to rub the heels of her palm against her eyes before tugging the lenses back down. Unfortunately, she probably wasn't lucky enough that this was some other Dib entirely unattached to her. She wasn't disappearing from a paradox, but that's all she had on that front right now.

"Hey, move it, kid!" Twix was broken out of her thoughts by someone bumping into her. When she looked up, it was some dude about five and a half feet tall that had on a sharp suit and smelled like metal, with skin like mayonnaise. She hissed at him, antennae pressed flat against her head. He just raised an eyebrow. "Geez, you got rabies or something?"

"No!" She didn't look _that_ terrible, did she?

"You're acting like it. Go find your parents, you little pest." As he made a shooing motion with his hand, she just narrowed her eyes, 'accidentally' sticking her foot out to trip him when he tried to weave around her. "Woah!"

Twix snickered, starting to run when she heard a myriad of curses spill from the man's mouth. "Hey, get back here!" he called after her, but she was already gone, weaving through people faster than he could catch up. She'd needed that- the horrified look on his face as he lost his balance had been _priceless. _

"Kid! Hey, kid!" Oh- oh boy, he was actually running after her. He must be _really _mad. She dug around in her pocket but- dammit, no weapons. Could she use the cuffs? That would require letting him get close and she didn't want to risk a full fight when she was still queasy and hungry. The early/late hour meant there weren't enough pedestrians to disappear from pursuit in the crowd, unless-

Twix took a hard left. The Labs were close, she recognized the buildings now, but she was taking the back route through the alleys. He'd looked clean, he probably wouldn't follow her there with the buzzing flies and grime.

Huh, it didn't smell as bad as she was expecting it to. She'd take whatever she could get right now. One turn, then another, until the sounds of the city faded behind her

The crackling of electricity from old neon signs burned at her antennae as she clamored over a pile of trash bags and pulled herself on top of a dumpster. His voice had faded a little, and she grinned. Even hungry, tired, and teetering on the edge of sick, she could still outrun some old fogey. Score one for Twix.

She took a moment to rest on the dumpster, sniffing the air again with her antennae perked up as the buzzing sounds intensified. Was she behind a restaurant or something? It was easy enough to slide back to the ground, following the scent. No, restaurant didn't seem right. A candy store, maybe? It was _too _sweet. Almost like-

_ Honey. _

She realized what was going on only moments before she stumbled face-first into the back of the hive and pushed off, honey dripping from her nose and cheeks with tiny wings of trapped insects fluttering helplessly against the skin. Around her, black and yellow swarmed as if a singular mass, pulsing and humming, and she had only moments before they turned on her.

A vampire bee hive. Of all the alleys in the city, she _had _to run into the vampire bee hive.

She took a breath and tried to frantically wipe the sweet liquid off her as the pitch of the humming hisses shifted, recognizing the intruder that had crashed into their precious hive.

"Bzzzt?" Her vampire bee was… rusty. It was secondhand from Dib, and who _knew _what particular dialect these spoke? "I mean no harm… uh, what was that in bee, _ bzzzt fsst buz? _"

The bees didn't respond, the buzzing the only noise she could hear as a thousand tiny vampire-insects clustering around her and rubbing her cheeks and forehead. One even slid between her lips, and she spit it out, the tiny little hairs still on her tongue. "Hey, I don't want to eat any of you! You taste terrible! I mean, _ roasted _maybe you'd be okay, but live, I don't- mmmph!" Another one zipped into her mouth, and she spat it back out again. "Knock that off!" All around her, they were crawling up the bottom of her overalls or down the neck of her turtleneck, and she frantically tried to shake them off.

One bug, she could handle. A _ dozen _bugs, she could handle. She generally liked bugs. But a _ thousand _of them, _ while _she was off her game, _ all _the size of ping-pong balls, and _all _clamoring for her delicious irken blood to turn into honey for the hive?

Twix _screamed_, trying to fumble inside her pocket for some weapon, _ any _weapon before they started piercing her skin with their tiny fangs. "Geddoff, geddoff-" She devolved into frantic noises that were some mix of English, Irken, and Spanish, with bits of vampire bee thrown in whenever she could focus enough as she swatted around her body frantically with one arm. The other was digging around in her pocket for something- _ anything- _that might lead them away from her.

She had pulled back away from the hive, and that _must _have dropped a few, but it wasn't enough, not nearly enough. They were bobbing and buzzing and moving against her, fur on skin and cloth and denim, she could _feel_ the tiny bat-like wings flapping even as one dug its fangs into her wrist and another into her neck. She tried to whistle, faintly remembering that was supposed to drive them off, but she just couldn't get enough breath in her panic.

"Hey!" The voice was muffled under the symphony of hisses and buzzes and there were too many bees around to see, but she'd recognize it anywhere and took another step back, back into the bricks, away from the _last_ person she wanted to see right now.

Dib.


	13. Cracking the Seal

A/N: Hey, you may have noticed that I kicked up the rating from a 'G' to a 'T'. While there is going to be some slightly more 'dark' content in the next chapter, 14, (in a somewhat more humorous way, think Santa pouring out blood-like fluid from the show) it's more for everything up to this point. I had kind of forgotten I'd set it to 'G' and hadn't realized how intense the fic was going to be at points, and I'd rather be safe than sorry. Plus it has swear words and stuff. So yeah, this fic is officially 'pg-13-ish' now. That's it, on with the chapter!

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Twix smacked at the bees with her arms, but moving too much just encouraged more and more to dig their tiny fangs into her clothes and her skin. "Get! Off!"

"Leab 'er alone, she's _bine!" _Dib shouted as he moved across the alley. Twix was too swarmed to tell how he moved and what he was doing, but _whatever _it was, it was enough to pull some of the bees off her, and _just _enough for her to draw a deep breath without inhaling any of them. Her lungs expanded before she whistled as hard as she could, adding an irken trill from her throat that she knew always bothered the hive at home. The bees scattered- towards Dib. _He _was being swarmed now- what had he _done?_

"Why are you helping me? How did you even _find _me?" Twix ran forward, feeling some of their tiny bodies squish under her sneakers as she looked around for something to draw the bees back before groaning. Great, she was going to have to rescue him, wasn't she? She took a deep breath before jumping directly into the cloud of vampire bees again, stretching her hand out to grab her dumb stupid _idiot _dad's coat.

It felt like- well, exactly the same as being swarmed thirty seconds ago had. Dib was swatting frantically and spraying something into the air, something that caught the edge of her cheek and sent smoke spiraling up into the pre-dawn sky. Twix didn't have time to dwell on it; she grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back into the street. He was still spraying the thing into the air, but the bees seemed to be withdrawing now that they weren't attacking the hive itself. A few darted into her hair again, but shaking her head like Gir did after rolling around in mud drove them away

"I had it!" Dib swiped frantically at the air as Twix bodily dragged him to a nearby bench. She could already feel the sting marks starting to itch. Luckily, the traces of vampire bee she'd been born with were just enough to counteract the worst of the effects. She'd probably just need some more honey in the next couple days to avoid the dizzy spells.

Her grip was iron as she shoved him onto the cold metal seat, glaring down as her wrists pinned his. "How did you _find _me?"

"Tragging device," Dib said with a shrug. Now that she had a good look at him, she could see bits of dried blood around his nostrils, not to mention that the nose itself was at a weird angle. That explained the nasal whine to his tone- she must have hit him right in the middle of it. Frankly, it was a wonder he was even able to-

Wait,_ tracking device?_ "I would have found-"

Dib lifted his hand as much as he was able, miming a needle injecting something. "No, you wouldn't."

She groaned, almost slumping down on top of him. "Oh, of _course _you did."

"Why're you smoking?" He pointed his finger to her cheek, and she glanced to the side to realize that she was, in fact, still smoking slightly.

Twix swatted at her cheek. It was barely enough to sting. "That's not important right now!"

"Oh man…" Dib looked down at the tiny spray bottle in his other hand. "Dis is-"

"Let me guess. Holy water?" Twix squinted at it. "That'd do it."

"So it's-"

"I'm _not _discussing my water allergy right now, but I'm not a vampire either." She moved her hand to hold both his wrists before she fished the cuffs out of her pocket. "I'm _also _not letting you drag me back to that basement." Dib tried to scoot away, but Twix wrapped her hand tighter around him, digging her claws into the skin and drawing out a brief yelp. "I'm going to Membrane Labs. I'm going to get Grandpa to help me, the way I _should _have from the start. And _you _aren't going to stop me." Within seconds, she had slapped the cuffs around his wrists.

"Dranq's probably drained," Dib pointed out, even as he grimaced at the pinpricks from the needles.

"They're still functional handcuffs." She sucked in a deep breath. "Did you get bitten?"

"Yeah, but I've been-"

"Did you get _stung _anywhere?"

"Whad?" Dib raised an eyebrow.

"The bites are annoying but they fade. They just mean you got some blood drained. Getting _stung _is what transfers the infection. I'm not stripping you to check, but does anywhere feel itchier than the rest?"

Dib thought for a moment. "Uh…" He shook his head. "Waid, I'm nod telling you!"

"It's going to be a _long_ couple of hours for you if you don't." Her tone had fallen to flat. She stared down at him for a solid fifteen seconds, and he finally sighed.

"Left wrist."

Twix slid his sleeve back and hissed as she took in a breath. Yep, that was a sting. "Okay, here's what's going to happen. Do you have any money on you?"

Dib glared at her before nodding slowly, down at his leg. "Front poget."

Twix started rooting around in his coat pocket, drawing out a second little spray bottle of holy water that she carefully set aside, a tiny spiral notebook, half of a cereal bar that had the wrapper tucked into itself and spilled crumbs all over when she picked it up, a blue handkerchief, his wallet, _and _her wallet. "Geez, how do you even _fit _all this stuff in here?"

"Dey're deep pockets," Dib muttered as she tucked both wallets in her pocket. He was clearly already starting to get a bit woozy- running after her with a broken nose and at least some blood loss wasn't doing him any favors, and on top of the venom starting to filter through his blood and probably no sleep? Yeesh. She took advantage of it, carefully unhooking one of his wrists from the cuff to snap it on the bench's armrest.

"Did you go through any enemy hive territory before running into me?"

Dib thought for a moment, before groaning. "Park. Dammit, dammit!"

"Okay, there's probably more than one sting, then." She paused. "I wonder if this is the incident that- huh. Not dwelling on _that."_

"What incident?" Dib's eyes widened and he yanked at the handcuff.

"Don't worry about it." She took a step back. "I'm going to get some honey. I'll be back soon."

"Hey! Don't leab me here!_ What incident?"_

"I said I'll be back soon!" Twix took another few steps before turning to run as the first rays of the sun started to filter through the smog with Dib yelling behind her.

Leaving him just handcuffed to the bench was tempting, but… maybe this was good. She could work with this, she could help him through the first stage, and he would have to trust her a _little _bit, right? There was every reason to leave him and strike out on her own, but maybe she could work her way back up into… maybe not his _good _graces, but his _tolerable _ones.

There was, luckily, a 24-hour store that sold bottles of honey nearby. She grabbed four. After that, it was easy enough to find a bag of gummy bears and a bologna sandwich, and a turkey wrap for Dib. It was all probably terrible, most food from these places was, but her stomach demanded _something_. The cashier sorted through the food, handing her back three dollars.

"Have a nice day, ma'am."

"Uh-huh." She stuffed it all in her pocket, and the cashier blinked at her before shrugging. They looked tired- it was probably the end of their shift. All the better, she wasn't in a conversational mood.

Twix jogged back to the bench, tearing the plastic seal off one of the honey jars and drinking some of it on the way. Over the years, she'd discovered that if you walked with enough confidence, people tended to leave you alone, so even though she probably looked like hell warmed over, people seemed blissfully unaware of her existence as she ducked and wove through the early-morning crowds. That was better than the jerk who rammed into her and started this whole mess, anyway.

She took a deep breath as she rounded a building, pausing to make sure he was still cuffed to the arm of the bench. Yep, he was. Good. Okay, now she had the power here. He probably didn't have any ranged weapons he could use one-handed. It was easy enough to cross the street, and as she got closer, she could see that he was sweating. He'd definitely been stung, then, that made things- it sucked for him, but it was good for her. She'd take any good luck she could get, right now. Twix settled on the opposite end of the bench and used her claw to slice through the plastic seal on a different honey bottle, holding it out. Dib narrowed his eyes.

"How do I know you didn't poison it?"

"I literally just opened the seal in front of you. You're going to need it to ride out the venom moving through your body, so just take it."

Dib did. He examined it from every angle, holding it up so the soft yellow filtered over his face, but seemed to deem it safe. "Why are you helping me?"

"I don't want you to hate me. I'm trying to figure out a way that this ends without _me_ vivisected and without _you_ making sure I never exist."

"You're not going to happen anyway, if it means Zim and I-"

"Shut up and drink your honey, Dad." Twix pushed up her goggles just enough to rub her eyes, before pulling out the convenience store sandwich and taking a bite.

"You didn't have that sandwich when I looked in your pockets. I already took your granola bar."

"I just bought it. You could spare the three bucks for making me get sick."

"The beans were an important experiment!" Dib stared down at the honey. "Why do I _want _to drink this?"

"It's the venom, like I said. You'll be fine soon enough."

"You don't know that."

"I do, actually." She took a bite of her sandwich, feeling the meat melt with the bread as the enzymes in her saliva did their work before swallowing. "You want honey because it helps soothe the changes, and you'll give in soon enough. You've told me this story a million times, although I was never in it before."

"Twix Whatever-Your-Real-Name-Is, I am _not-" _Something gurgled in his throat and he cut himself off mid-sentence, popping the top off the honey and starting to chug it by squeezing the bottle. Twix watched, head tilted as his throat expanded with each swallow. When he finished, he stared down at the plastic for a moment before chucking it as far away as he could. "What the heck was_ that?"_

"Oh, don't be a baby, now it's… just the fangs next, I think?"

"The fangs?" Dib's voice pitched up. "I'm not going to turn into a bee, am I?"

She shook her head. "Nah, but you _will _be able to communicate with them. Honestly, I always half-figured you did it on purpose. It's useful."

"How come you aren't...?" Dib's eyes darted over to the bottle that was already being kicked to the gutter by pedestrians.

"Oh, I was born with some vampire bee you passed along. I'm mostly immune." Twix dug the half-empty bottle out of her pocket. "Besides, I already had one. The honey… bonds with the venom, I think? I don't know. I'm part-irken, I never knew how much the honey thing was that and how much was the vampire bee thing."

"Right." Dib raised an eyebrow before feeling up with his free hand at his nose. "Wait, my nose feels weird. Why doesn't it hurt as much anymore?"

"Oh yeah, it helps you to heal faster too. That's going to be useful too." Twix squirted a little of the honey into her bologna sandwich before taking another bite. She could feel Dib's eyes burning a hole in the side of her face, but it took him a full minute to reply.

"You're doing it again."

She swallowed a mouthful of sandwich. "Doing what?"

"Not making sense. I just tracked you down and you aren't… I don't know, beating the crap out of me. The jig's up. You should be at Zim's base, reporting on what happened, or at least getting far away from here. You had the perfect opportunity but you came back."

"I still might run, don't assume." She rummaged around in her pocket before handing him the wrap. "Here, open it yourself."

"And there! You thought to get me something." Dib fumbled with the plastic for a moment, apparently assured it wasn't poisoned by the fact that it was still sealed before he raised it to his mouth.

"Dib Feebly Membrane." She turned to him, watching as he nearly choked on the bite he'd just taken.

"Wait, I don't think Zim knows my mid-" he sputtered, but she held up her hand.

"Dib. I'm your daughter. Yours and Zim's. I don't know how else I can prove it to you, but I just want to get _home_." Her claws dug into the sandwich, the stale bread giving easily and sprinkling crumbs on her sleeves.

Dib stared at her, eyes darting up and down. His foot bounced as he chewed on his lip, the wrap in his hands half-forgotten already.

"There's… something in the lab. It reads memories. I used to use it to get better notes on things I'd run into, to try and identify attack patterns and markings and stuff." He met her eyes- or, really, his eyes met her goggles. She knew from experience that he was just seeing his own eyes reflected off the sleek irken glass. "If you could- could _prove _that you're telling the truth, that you really _are_ just a kid that..." He swallowed. "That you really _are _mine, I might help you. There's no way Zim would know to program exactly what I'll ask to see."

Twix blinked, before a grin spread across her face. "That sounds perfect!" This was- this was better than she could have hoped for! Then, however, he held up his hand, and the smile fell.

"But if it _doesn't _work, if you try to betray me or slither out of this, I'm knocking you out and you're _going _to wake up on an operating table in the Eyeball headquarters." His voice was flat, and for the first time Twix could hear a slight quiver in it.

She held out her hand. "Deal."

"I'm, uh- I'm still holding the wrap." Dib shook it a little, and she waited for him to transfer it over to the hand that was cuffed before grabbing her hand and shaking.

Twix produced the bent paper clip from her pocket, and he groaned. She couldn't help a smile. "Yeah, this is how I got out. Hey, you should have searched me a little better."

"I've never had to tie up someone with opposable thumbs before, okay?"

"What, you haven't done that to Zim?"

"His Pak has lasers and those super sharp leg-thingies, even if I ever got him pinned down he'd squirm out," Dib said as she slid the clip into the lock, jiggling it for a moment before it slid open. Her chest thumped double-time for a moment as he stood up and she kept her grip on the cuffs, but he just brushed himself off and picked up the stuff from his pockets. He spat in the handkerchief and used it to wipe at his face. "Did I get all the blood off?"

"I think you got most of it before I saw you," she said as he stuffed it back in his pocket, glancing over at the bus stop across the street.

"Are there... any other side effects of the stinging…?"

Twix followed his eyes, catching his intent and pulling one of the wallets out of her pocket even as she stuffed the cuffs back into it. "I'll explain on the way."

"So I'll still be able to go out in sunlight and stuff?" The bus bumped over a pothole as Dib's fingers tightened around a new freshly-opened bottle of honey.

"Uh-huh. Vampire bee-stung humans aren't actually all that uncommon, but considering they crave a regular food, most of them don't even know." Twix shrugged. "It's a lot more obvious when you crave _blood _that something's wrong, you know?"

"So you said you-"

"I don't know how much it affects me considering it was passed genetically," Twix said. "In all likelihood, this was the incident, you just decided not to tell me for time paradox reasons, or..." She trailed off.

"Or I'm a different Dib," he said, finishing her thought. "You've already been wondering about it, haven't you?"

"That obvious, huh?"

"You're staring off at the back of the driver's head," Dib noted. "You're thinking about _something_, I just took a guess."

"It's a time machine, not a time-_dimension _machine. If you're from a different dimension, then I'm probably never getting home." She hugged herself. "If I think of that too much, I'm just going to scream and get us kicked off the bus."

"Nah, you've gotta do more than that to get kicked off the bus," Dib said, but they slid to a stop before he could clarify. "We're here."

"I can see that." She pulled herself up a bit to look out the window. They were about a block away from the Labs. "Geez, if I could have just used the bus earlier I would have-"

"-Just run into me slightly later," Dib said. "So why were you planning to go to the Labs?"

"I'm not going to Zim, especially after I brained him with that Voot piece. I figured Grandpa was my next-best bet."

"Oh right, he had a prototype time machine thing, didn't he?" Dib slid off the seat, and Twix rolled her ankles around a few times before she followed suit. They were behind a woman with a dog that looked like a wet mop on a leash, and she split in the other direction as soon as they reached the sidewalk.

"So, can you get in?" Twix asked as they started walking.

"Yeah, I figured out where the staff entrance was about a month ago. There's a little blood-prick but it's easier than dealing with the guards."

"Makes sense." Twix adjusted her goggles. "And you know where this machine is?"

"Mhm, it's kinda in the back. It was supposed to be for… making movies out of your memories or something? But when they realized they couldn't actually edit the memories, just the order they were in, it got scrapped for everything other than wedding parties."

"...Huh."

The staff entrance was an intended-to-be-intimidating black, (especially considering the general color scheme was white) but Dib easily pressed his palm to the handprint scanner in the middle of it.

_**"Identification?" **_The scanner, several sizes too big for Dib's tiny hand, intoned out as it pricked his finger, getting a tiny wince.

"Dib Membrane, and guest."

_ **"Guest name?" ** _

"Uh… Twix... Bennett? We're here for a skool project," Twix offered.

_**"Hmm… hmm…! Acceptable."**_ The door slid into the wall, and steam poured from the entrance for about two seconds before dissipating into the dawn air.

"Dramatic," she noted.

"Yeah, Dad's always had a flair for it," Dib said, waving her in behind him. Even for the early hour, Membrane Labs was bustling. The corridors were full of white lab coats, and two twelve-year-olds in messy clothes stuck out like a thornbush in a field of daisies. Fortunately, Twix knew these halls about half as well as she knew the base, and she knew _that _like a bee knows a flower just outside its hive.

"Hey, what are you kids doing in here?" A woman with a tiny anatomically-correct heart patch sewed on her lab coat's pocket raised an eyebrow.

"We're- ghhk!" Dib had started to explain when Twix shoved a hand over his mouth.

"Dib's just showing me around, since I'm so interested in maybe getting an internship here when I'm older!" She gave her biggest grin, and the woman gave a soft smile in return, ruffling both of their hair.

"Aw, that's sweet! You're the professor's kid, right?"

Dib smacked Twix's hand away and shot her a glare before nodding. "Uh-huh."

"I'll pass along that you're getting your friends interested in science. And good luck, honey- you've gotta start applying at your age to snag an internship."

"I'll remember that, ma'am!" Twix chirped, rolling back and forth on her heels and getting another pat on the head. She was careful to press her antennae as flat as they could go, hearing ringing in them from the pressure until the woman pulled her hand away and she relaxed.

When she walked away, Dib narrowed his eyes. "What was that?"

"If you told her what we were doing, they might have stopped us from using the equipment," Twix pointed out.

"Yeah, but now Dad is going to be annoying me about coming around to science again."

"If it even gets to him. And if he even remembers." Twix cracked her neck as they started walking again.

"He'd- he'd remember," Dib insisted.

"I'unno about that."

"You're still on thin ice, you don't get to insult my dad on top of it," Dib said.

"Fine, I'll drop it, just…" Twix's tone softened as he pushed the door to the stairs open. "You weren't like that. You're better than him."

Dib's fingers tightened on the knob, but he didn't say anything and just started climbing the stairs.


	14. Family

A/N: Warning for blood explosion. It's not anybody important. It's fine. Also, I'm deleting the weird anonymous reviews, so there's no use spamming me. I did it for AIP, I'm doing it for this one. I forgot ffnet was Like This.

* * *

They didn't run into any more resistance on the way, and Twix was settled into the chair within ten minutes. It was the same cozy blue as the Membrane Labs logo, and the cushion molded nicely to her butt.

"This looks like a VR headset." She tilted it in her hands, squinting as if it might change if she looked at it from just the right angle. It was a sleek off-white, with a blue screen.

"Well, that's what the base of it was built off of." Dib pressed a few keys, and the console in front of them bloomed upwards with white light in the simple rectangle of a projector screen. "I input a certain memory or date here, and then it's projected up so I can see it."

"And… what, we can both see it?"

"You'll sort of be a passenger in your own head. You can't change the memories, just experience them again, but only as an observer."

"That's how you could use this to rewatch encounters, then? To catch things you didn't the first time?" Twix guessed and Dib nodded, his mouth quirking up in a half-smile as she slid the headset on. He looked kind of blurry now, like she was watching a reflection.

"Bingo. So, let's see, what memory do I want…?"

"Anything before three or so is probably going to be fuzzy."

"Oh, that's the beauty of this baby." Dib patted the console. "It can sharpen old memories. I can't get someone's birth or anything, but half-remembered stuff will come in clear. You said something about killing a vampire once, right?"

"Wait, that one-"

"Yep, sounds good to me!" He slammed a button before she could finish her protest, and the world was catapulted forward in a kaleidoscope of colors until they all narrowed down to green and brown and gray. Her palms were sweaty as she clutched the stake, slow breaths hot against her lips as they crouched in the grass, trees surrounding them with the city just a mile and a million lightyears away.

"That's it, Neb," the murmur came from beside her. "Just focus…" She risked a glance over- his glasses had already been cracked while they'd been trying to lose the monster currently trying to sniff them out. This particular vampire didn't have much of a sense of hearing after an encounter with a bear had nearly taken the ears off, but it had a heck of a nose for blood, and hers was, according to the last one that had tried to take a bite out of her before Dad smacked it with a shovel, 'delicious'.

Vampires in the movies were so shiny and pretty and gothic and wonderful, but in the real world, they were only a couple of steps above animals when hungry. Deadly, though, very deadly, and her antennae twitched as she tried to listen for steps. This had been more fun _before _she'd seen it manage to knock out and drain a girl twice her size in seconds, and _then _they had to follow it when Dad's crossbow stakes missed.

A finger appeared in front of her goggles, and she followed it to see the sunken gray skin of the vampire sniffing at a tree, the top of its skull swollen like a water balloon. "He's slow, I know you can do it." Dad lightly pushed at her back. "I'll be right here."

Twix swallowed before standing up, fingers shifting around the stake as she puffed out her chest. She was great at killing people in the simulation, at her ninth birthday a week ago she'd managed to beat her record and get 15 in a row, this shouldn't be _that _different. She was fine. She was fine!

The vampire caught the movement and its head whipped around, immediately sprinting across the pine needles and crackly leaves to pin her to the nearest tree before she could even raise the stake.

"Go for it!" Dad called. "Unless you want me to, but I know you can-"

The rest blurred away into gibberish as saliva dripped from the vampire's jaws, canines four times the size they should be with an extra pair curling forward like tusks. It was focused on her neck even through her turtleneck and the ice sliding through her veins broke as the drool slid down her face. Adrenaline flooded as she drove her knee up into its crotch, and it screeched loud enough to send alarm bells through her antennae as she fumbled with the stake, slamming it through its chest as hard as she could. The scream intensified for a moment until it exploded in a shower of blood, soaking her head to toe and dripping down her face and off her pigtails.

"Woohoo!" Dad cheered, and she stood stock-still for a moment before a grin spread across her face and she started running, catching him in the middle to be scooped up and swung around. He laughed, bouncing her before holding her up above his head.

"That was _fantastic!" _

Twix gasped as she came to, conscious of the weight on her head before ripping it off. "What the _eff _was-"

"Some people end up a little more lost in the immersion than others," Dib said, staring at the final frozen image of his grinning older self from above, droplets of stolen blood hitting his face and splashing on his glasses.

Twix rubbed her cheeks. She could still practically _feel_ the blood oozing down them. The bath after that night had taken _ages_. As satisfying as knowing she could stake a vampire was, the adrenaline rush had lasted hours and left her jittery. Even now, having it pulled up so forcibly was juicing her veins; she couldn't seem to sit still. "Give me a less intense one next time."

"Yeah, yeah, okay…" He typed something else in. "I need to see Zim."

"Sure. What do you have in mind?"

"Did you have birthday parties?"

"Uh-huh."

"Alright, let's go for that. I don't know if he even knows what a birthday _is,_ he couldn't do that well with making one up."

She took a breath before sliding the headset back on. "Ready when you are."

"And away we go," Dib said, hitting a few more keys before she heard the click of the button again.

This time, she was a little more prepared and able to pull herself back instead of losing track of her time and current predicament. Younger Twix was huddled behind a stack of boxes in the storage room, giggling to herself with Minimoose at her side. Her limbs were thick and clumsy like soft clay decorated with band-aids, so she couldn't be older than three or four. One antenna bobbed up as her younger body peeked out to get a look and spotted green skin.

"Where aaaaaaare you?" he called, antennae twitching as he listened. "Come out, come out, sweetling…" He was holding a box with a bow on it, but that was all she could see before ducking back down. "You're very clever to hide from Zim, but you can't stay away forever…"

"I saw it," she whispered to Minimoose. "Gir got into the candy with it. It's a gun."

"Nyeh," Minimoose bobbed a little in reply.

"Yes I- eep!" Twix ducked down further as Papa's footsteps froze, then started walking over.

"I hear whispering!" 'Future' Twix could tell now that he was holding back a laugh himself, although, from the way her body was trembling, she'd been nervous. Or maybe she'd just been annoyed the jig was up? Either way, soon enough, Papa's head popped over the box. "Gotchya! And Minimoose, how dare you listen to her over me?"

"Nyeh, nyeh nyeh."

"Oh, is that so? Well, you're forgiven." Papa grabbed Twix by the armpits, hauling her over the box and holding her out, tiny chubby legs dangling in mid-air. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I was… seeing how good I could hide?" She could feel her mouth stretching in a grin, and Papa narrowed his eyes for a moment before setting her down and ruffling her hair.

"We'll add some more stealth practice to our training, then. Not bad, for a smeet of four whole years now!" He scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder.

"Aw, Papa-"

"Don't 'aw papa' me, the Dib's upstairs, and he's prepared balloons and cake for you. His presentation leaves something to be desired, but he's quite proud of it, so maybe you'll like it." He patted her butt as he said it.

"Balloons?" Her body froze. "Purple ones?"

"Yes, purple ones. I swear, you're just like your hive-relative the Gaz." Papa headed for the door, and Minimoose floated along behind her.

Twix was smiling as that one faded. "I had an allergic reaction to the eggs in the cake about fifteen minutes later, but I got extra ice cream to make up for it." Dib was staring at the screen again, and at Minimoose with his mouth open mid-squeak. Twix's smile fell when she pulled the headset off. "Dib?"

"It just… it doesn't make sense." He tangled his hands in his hair. "It looks fine, why does it look fine?"

"I'm- I'm telling the truth." She swallowed.

"I need to see us together. He can't- he can't make me think that we'd _really _get along long enough to make you." He turned and shoved the headset back down on her head, the keyboard clicks frantic before she was thrown back into the past for the third time.

"Nebula? Twix? Honey?" Her body ached, and her eyes blinked open slowly. She sat up in increments, seeing Dad on one side and Zim on the other.

"What…?"

Dad glanced over at Zim, concern clear in his eyes. "It was the nuggets. Whatever they put in them-"

The nuggets? So she was about ten here. She groaned, pulling her legs in close. the thin hospital gown not warm enough to keep out the chills. There was an IV in her arm and her mouth tasted like liquid metal. "_Another_ one?"

"Another one," Dad echoed with a nod. "We've already pumped your stomach, it's just-"

"You're strong, _Primolstai_," Zim interrupted. "Everything new that's poison, you always pull through! Any irken soldier would be-"

"Well, I'm sick of it!" Twix snapped. "I hate having to worry that my body's going to start fighting me every time I eat anything!"

"We're almost finished with the allergy pen that should cover almost everything," Dad said, setting a hand on her shoulder. "I know it's hard- hell, Zim knows-"

"You're right I do!" Zim smacked Dad's hand away. "I've been living on this planet for seventeen Earth years and I'm worse off than you are. Nothing here is made for irkens besides the ultra-processed snacks and pure sugar and what Dib calls 'poisons'." He made air quotes. "But I've survived, and you can too. Better, in fact- you can eat more Earth foods than I can. Because you're a good balance!"

"Maybe we should start getting more irken food supplies. Considering how badly she reacts to Earth food-"

"Irken food could be just as dangerous- she's half-human too, and irken food is crafted specifically for-" Zim started.

"It can't be any _worse, _can it?" Dad argued right back. "I don't want her starving or surviving off just cheese puffs and gummy worms, her health's perilous enough as it is!"

Twix felt her body shrink in on itself as they kept arguing until she felt a sharp metal poke. Looking down, Gir was wearing a jester hat and gestured for her to follow him. She shook her head, pointing at the IV. Experience told her it was too squeaky to get out without alerting her parents. He pouted for a moment before pulling the hat off, rummaging around in it until pulling Sir Pollen out and handing it to her.

"You know you're not supposed to touch my stuff," she hissed in a whisper, narrowing her eyes.

"The bee needs her flower," Gir said sagely, before blowing raspberries on his hand loudly enough to get Zim and Dad's attention. Twix had already hugged the worn stuffed bee, and they glanced at each other before taking a breath in almost perfect unison.

"Do you want to try some irken food?" Dad asked. Zim opened his mouth, but Dad shoved his hand in front of it.

"Papa… you think it might be dangerous?" Twix asked, and Zim nodded. "But… would it be any more dangerous than the weird reactions I've had already? Eggplants gave me those weird boil thi-"

"We don't need to talk about the boils," Zim said with a shudder. "But-" He raised an authoritative finger before blinking, letting the finger drop before tapping it against his lower lip. "I- suppose when compared to what's already happened…"

Dad clapped his hands. "That's settled then."

"It's going to be ages anyway. My next shipment isn't for another year."

"Really? You get that much in one go?"

"Do you know how long it takes to get to Earth from Foodcourtia in economy shipping, Dib-mate? _Do you?" _Zim was raising an eye and his arms were crossed, boot tapping on the tiled floor.

Dib held up his hands. "Okay, okay, fine, you're the one who knows about interplanetary travel. Just… good we had this talk now then."

Twix just hugged her bee tighter.

This time when she moved to pull the headset off, her chest was pounding. "That- that one was private. You-"

"No, I- one more, I need one more." There was pressure on the top of the headset- Dib was using his hand to keep it on.

"That wasn't the deal, D- gah!"

She was settled in Dad's lap, watching him playing on his phone as she poked up at his cheek. He swatted at her hand a couple of times before setting the phone aside and attacking her stomach with tickles until she laughed so hard she almost threw up.

She was reaching for her feet in footie pajamas, no older than two, as Zim was bouncing her on his knee.

Zim had a laser pointer and was pacing the floor as he lectured about numbers, and she was scribbling down notes.

She was slicing at holographic irken combatants with a spear and when she turned, breathing hard, Zim gave her a thumbs up and a grin.

She was covered in flour as she helped stir the batter for cupcakes for the PTA meeting, Zim cackling as he promised to make 'the best, most impressive first impression of all time!' Gir was trying to eat the frosting until Dad scooped him up and tossed him down the chute to the lab before rolling up his sleeves to join them.

Gaz was showing her how to always beat the competition in racing games.

Gaz was giving her her first taser and then laughing as she fried Dad with it.

The Computer was hauling her up by her waist as she pouted above the piranha tank.

Zim handed her a ferret's still-beating heart to hold as she watched him implant something metallic in the cavity where the heart had been.

She was settled on a table at the Lab, watching Grandpa work and kicking her legs. Dad walked in and asked her something before scooping her up and setting her on his shoulder.

She had a lab coat and long thick gloves of her own as she held a wrench for Dad, a grin across her face that she was helping.

She was coloring in a little cartoon cat, arms crossed, while the giant birdcage she was locked in hung above the lab. Gir was on the floor, trying to jump up and grab her as the clock behind him ticked down the minutes until time-out was over.

Tulip was laughing at something she'd said and then opened her mouth wider to reply.

Tulip was hanging upside down from the monkey bars, skirt flipped up due to gravity but she had bright leggings underneath that had a galaxy pattern.

She was digging around inside a raccoon, unable to tell what color latex her gloves used to be because they were so soaked in red.

She was digging in her garden, kneading the soil and pulling up a squirrel skull from it with a smile before setting it aside and burying a sprout.

She was looking around her greenhouse, more 'green' than 'house', everything running over each other just enough to create her own personal jungle and encourage wild hybridization. Calibrated chaos. Perfect.

Dad and Zim laughing together.

Zim and Dad sitting on the couch, Zim easily settled on Dad's lap with Twix watching them from the other end. Gir squirmed up to sit in _her _lap and she plunked her chin down on the top of his head.

All three of them laying in a nest of blankets, making fun of some movie on TV, easily nudging and brushing against each other.

A brush of antennae intertwined at the end from Zim, sending a jolt of contentedness down her spine.

A kiss on the cheek from Dad.

A kiss on the forehead from Zim.

A kiss on the mouth from Gir, that tasted like hot sauce and got him kicked off her as he laughed.

Both her parents kissing each other, hands on each other's faces before trailing down to intertwine their fingers.

Darkness.

Her chest felt ready to explode when she finally burst back into reality, head aching like the cerebral fluid had boiled over. She only realized that she was in a cage when she yanked the helmet off and tried to stand up and hit the ceiling.

The world swirled, and she nearly threw up her bologna and honey in half-second half-delirious hopes that expelling it might balance things out again. It, fortunately, stayed down. Small miracles.

There was noise, but she couldn't make out any of it. It took two agonizing minutes until her balance and vision started to right again.

Dib was pacing and muttering to himself. They were in a small, sparsely-lit room, and as she scanned it, she spotted several other experiments, all animals in various states of mechanization. It must be a cyborg experiment.

"Dib…?" She shuffled forward on her knees.

"She can't be… but the machine can't lie… and he'd never think to do that much… but it _can't _be..." Round and round, in circles that just made Twix dizzier as she watched.

"Dib!" she called louder, gripping the bars, and he turned. "Someone's… going to find us in the morning."

"I'll deal with that when we get there."

"Are you-"

"The memory extractor can't lie," Dib said. "But I- I _can't _end up with Zim. He's my _mortal enemy. _You- you realize how _horrible _of a defender of Earth I'd be if I got together with such a threat to it? It's against everything I stand for! No one else can do what I can!"

"He…" Twix took a moment to compose herself. "He's… not a threat to Earth anymore."

"He was cutting up animals in one! He was training you to fight!"

"He likes experimenting. So does your dad, doesn't he? Most of the time it's for petty pranks. By the time you're in your mid-teens, he…" How to phrase it, how to phrase it... "You don't have to worry about him." As her fingers curled, her claws dragged against the metal, making a horrible 'shiiiiiiiing' that made Dib briefly clap his hands over his ears. It was only when she dropped her hands off the metal that he dropped his from the sides of his head. "I swear, he trains me because he doesn't want anything bad to happen. I'm strong because of him- because of both of you. I…" She hugged herself. "I just want to go home. If there's some kind of truth serum here, I know Grandpa made one at some point, I'll take it. I'm tired, my head hurts, I can still feel the bee stings... _Please_."

Dib looked at her, then to the rows of cyborg animals sniffling and shuffling about in their cages. He closed his eyes as he drew in a deep breath.

"You're offering that… and if there really are other dimensions out there, and there are tears between them that let strange phenomena through, then maybe…"

She leaned forward, eyes wide and hands trembling.

"...Maybe you really _are _who you say you are." Dib forced up a shaky smile. "I can still learn a lot about irken engineering from working on the ship, right? As long as you don't try to pull anything else…" He took a step forward, setting his hand on something in the front of the cage. There was a triplet series of beeps before the door swung open, and she practically fell on her face as she scrambled out before pulling him into the tightest hug of her life.


	15. Reestablishment

"You understand that I have a lot of questions," Dib wheezed when she finally stopped squeezing the life from him.

Twix took half a step back, taking a deep breath and pushing her goggles up just enough to rub her eyes. They were sore. She hadn't realized she'd almost started crying. "I'm pretty sure I've _already _blown a hole in the space-time continuum," she said dryly. "A few more questions can't hurt _that _much at this point, right?"

"The best friend. Is she real?"

Twix started walking towards the door. Admittedly, that hadn't been the first one she'd thought he'd pull out. Maybe he was starting slow? Thinking of Tutu always cheered her up a bit, though. "Uh-huh. Tulip was the chubby redhead in some of the memories. She's nice."

"She's nice…" Dib echoed. "And her dad Keef _doesn't _creep you out?"

"Not really." What was Dib's deal with him anyway? "He's kinda pushy, I guess, but mostly he bakes us cookies. He hovers sometimes, but it's a normal parent hovering amount, I think? I don't have a whole lot of friends to compare with that actually let me _go _to their houses." Twix paused. "Or at all. There was Jake, but he stopped sitting at my table after I accidentally dropped a bug in his juice. I worked with Tie in the skool gardens, but we pretty much never talk and she mostly listens to music..." Twix trailed off. "She's good at arranging the seeds in neat ways to create patterns, though."

"Huh." Brown eyes stared at her. From the way they darted around, he was examining her facial structure. "It's… kind of amazing. I can kind of see how weird your skull is, with the high cheekbones and the slightly larger dip for your eye sockets and how the texture is kind of off, but the nose ties it together so the little details fade away unless you squint. It's no wonder I didn't see it right away."

"Thanks for the skull lesson, señor big-head." Twix bumped his hip with her own hard enough for him to stumble to the side. "Newsflash: I already know my body's super messed up. That's what you get when you just throw genetics into a blender between two completely different species without _trying _to make something specific."

Dib brushed himself off where she'd touched. "So they didn't engineer you for something? To be a soldier or whatever?"

"I already told you. I was an accident." She shrugged. At that, Dib screwed up his face as if he'd swallowed a lemon.

"An accident?_ Really?"_

"Uh-huh." She didn't get what was so weird about it. People on TV had kids on accident all the time, right? They must not be wearing their mouthguards. Apparently, for humans, a stork was involved somehow, and she didn't want to know about that. It probably bit the parents a lot.

"What, were they just dumping DNA in a tube and seeing what came out?" Dib leaned closer, but she had spotted the green doors at the end of the hall and lit up at the vines intertwining over the blue ML logo painted on the sleek steel. Was it…? It was!

"Is that the greenhouse?" A grin spread across her face. "Grandpa only lets me go in when I'm supervised, can we see it? Can we, can we?"

"You didn't answer my... yeah, it is," Dib said with a sigh, waving a hand. "Just don't knock anything over."

"I'll do my best!" She sprinted down the hall before setting her hand on the scanner. It, unfortunately, just beeped red at her. "Aw, poop."

"I've got it." Dib set his hand above hers, and she pulled back, allowing him to open the door for her. "So, you really like this kinda stuff?"

She glanced back at him, raising an eyebrow as the door clicked before splitting in half to open. "I already told you. Besides, he keeps the more experimental stuff in here, if it's still the same room as my time." Steam flowed out of the greenhouse, the same as it had for the back door, but at least there was an excuse from the sauna-like temperature as soon as she stepped in.

Oh, it was _wonderful! _So many gorgeous exotic plants, bursts of color that had lilac and aquamarine and butter-yellow. It was labeled and categorized much neater than her greenhouse at home, of course, but that just made it easier to appreciate the ones she'd seen only in pictures before. Green and yellow leaves swirled together, and she ran her fingers over the lemon balm that had blue through the veins and up the midrib. From the printed labels, a lot of it was for use in medicine, which made sense. This _was _a science lab, after all. Some of it, though…

"Ghost plants?" Dib was leaning over a section labeled with neon green, raising an eyebrow, and as Twix hurried over he turned to her. "What are these?"

"If you grow them right, they glow in the dark! I guess whoever named them thinks they look spooky." Twix cupped her hands over the plants, and the luminescence faintly reflected onto the fabric on her palms and her slightly-shiny sweaty fingers. "They're probably seeing if they can extract the glowy stuff naturally for something."

"That's… pretty cool, actually," Dib admitted, and Twix beamed.

"I have a few. They're _really _hard to grow right outside of their natural environment, but I've only had two die on me so far."

"Good for you, then," Dib said. "And you live with that little robot-dog thing too, right?"

"Uh-huh. He's not allowed in my room unless I'm with him after he ate all of my stuffed animals when I was four. Apparently, I cried for like an hour."

"Yeesh." Dib winced at that. "Well, we should probably get going before someone sees us. You can always… see it in the future, right?"

"Kinda…" Twix gazed longingly over the flora before straightening up. "Right, we've got a mission. Focus on the mission."

Dib headed for the door, and Twix looked both ways before swiping the smaller pot of the ghost plant and dropping it in her pocket. Grandpa was rich. He could afford to lose one.

The ride to the bus stop nearest the house was surprisingly quiet. Dib had pulled out his notebook and was scribbling so quickly that it was near-indecipherable, not to mention tilted away from her. After a few minutes, the strokes got longer, and with how often he was 'unconsciously' looking up at her, he was probably trying to sketch her out.

Twix'd take _that _over a knife to the gut to figure out her anatomy the hard way. She, for her part, mostly just stared at the ceiling and walls of the bus, trying to find figures in the weird blobby stains. So far, she'd seen two cats, a pig, a fern, and a needle with a long crack as the thread.

By the time they made it back to the house, the sun was bright and burning high in the sky. As they walked up the driveway, Gaz walked out the door, backpack already on. She turned to them.

"You coming to school today or not? They moved classes outside after the explosion yesterday."

"...I'm gonna call out."

Gaz shrugged. "Alright." She just walked past them, and Twix stared as she disappeared around the corner.

"...She didn't even _ask_."

"That's Gaz for you." Dib yawned. "I'll call in to skool, pretend I'm Dad, and say I'm sick. We still have a lot to talk about."

"Are they going to buy it?"

"I stitched together a recording from clips of him a while back and it hasn't failed me yet." Dib pushed the door open. "I don't know if it's a bunch of different secretaries or they just don't notice he has the same inflection every time."

"They're probably not paid enough to care," Twix said, following behind him. Dib had already retrieved a small white recorder and the home phone. He dialed the number after quickly checking on his own phone. After fishing the ghost plant out of her pocket and setting it on the windowsill, Twix threw herself on the couch as it rang, rang, rang- _click._

"Hello, Skool office. If you're calling about the budget, tell it to the complaint department, they've got another two zeros on the end." The woman popped a loud gum bubble just after 'end'. "If you aren't, what is it?"

Dib hit 'play' on the recorder. **"Hello, missir!" **(It sounded like 'miss' and 'sir' stitched together, probably so Dib had his bases covered.)** "I am Professor Membrane, and _my son child_ has sickness today and will _not be_ attending!"**

_"Son… Gazlene?"_

Dib groaned, flipping the recorder up and squinting at the bottom before hitting the skip. **_"My son,_ Dib!" **The quality of the audio dipped considerably on 'Dib'. The whole thing sounded kind of like an audio ransom note, actually.

_"Oh, Dib, right. Got it." _There was a scribbling noise. _"Alright, I'm obligated to inform you that he only gets one more sick day before he might have to repeat the grade. He's missed a lot."_

Dib paused for a second, still looking at the bottom of the scratched plastic before hitting skip three times. The recorder churned for a few agonizing seconds.

_"Uh, sir?"_

**"Yes, that's _fine!"_**

"Okay, well, as long as you know." A crack and a few keyboard clicks. Maybe she was stretching, or maybe somebody had just smacked something on her desk, who knew. "Alright, it's down, have a good day, sir." The phone clicked, and Dib wiped his forehead.

"How do you even remember what's on-" Twix started, but Dib held the recorder up. Taped to the underside was a little piece of paper that had sentences next to little numbers. "Ooooh, that makes sense."

"It's saved my butt a good few times." Dib stretched before sliding down on the couch next to her and flipping open his notebook. When he turned the page, she could see the sketch of a suspiciously humanoid shape. Ha. Called it. "Okay. so. Questions."

"I have one of my own first," Twix said.

"What?" Dib looked up. "I thought you knew everything about this time."

"Hardehar. Hearing about the fun parts is _not _knowing all of it."

"The nightmare world on Halloween was a _fun part?"_

"Funnier in hindsight, I guess." She shrugged. "But that's not it- what are you going to do about the Eyeballs? I don't want to think things are going well and then wake up with no clothes on an autopsy table because they got impatient and probably know where you live already."

Dib blinked before smacking himself in the face with the notebook and groaning. "That's gonna be a problem…"

"Maybe you can say I escaped?"

"If I hand in one more failure, they might kick me out- I'm _already _skirting boundaries by being as young as I am and I can't lose this."

Twix chewed on the inside of her mouth. "Maybe just an… incomplete success?"

He looked at her. "Huh?"

"I know you were taking parts off the ship to give to them."

"I was _not-_"

"I heard you, a couple nights ago." She narrowed her eyes. "Which was a dick move, by the way, when you thought I was just your normal kinda-mutated human daughter. Just letting me crash into the void of space and die for brownie points with a bunch of people who don't seem to like you a whole lot, if you're on the edge of getting kicked out? Come _on_."

"..." Dib stared back. "...Okay, maybe a _little_."

"Well, if we figure out what exactly we need, we could give them some of the extras, especially the ones that got crushed and we're going to hammer back into shape. They get some gen-u-ine alien tech, you get credit, I get to go home, everyone's happy, cue the cheesy tv studio applause."

"That's- not a terrible idea, actually." He tilted his head. "You'd really let me do that?"

"I mean…" She glanced over to the door to the garage. "I don't know the inner mechanics to fix it by _myself,_ so I'm just going to have to trust you that it works anyway. If there are any extras, I'd probably be leaving them behind to not have extra weight."

"True," Dib said. "But still! You're just letting me have them?"

"That'll depend on if there's any left. There might not be," Twix pointed out. "We'll… I don't know. We'll figure out something together."

"Yeah, together…" Dib looked away, and Twix sighed.

Right. She should have figured he just wouldn't turn around that quickly on her. But questions and sketches were preferable to scalpels and cuffs, so she could handle this.

He cleared his throat. "So, your short antenna. Accident or born that way?"

"Born that way."

"Your nails felt sharp. Zim never takes his gloves off. Are they claws?"

"Yea- wait, you didn't go over my hands during that examination, how did you know that?" Twix stared at him, and he just tapped the pencil against the notebook.

"They made marks on the metal when you were in the cage. Plus, I looked you over when you were passed out. I was curious."

"Uh-huh. And how _much _did you look me over?" If he'd stripped her down again, she was showing him that they were claws up-close and personal.

"Mostly cursory inspection for mutations that might explode or give you an unexpected advantage in a fight if it came to that," Dib said. "I took your overalls off, but then put them back on pretty quickly because- I mean, I wasn't giving you _my _pants at that point, and it was weird to leave you without pants, and just- yeah. It wasn't any more than when I was measuring you the other day. I left your shirt and underwear and socks on and stuff."

"Riiiiiight." Still, she hugged herself a little closer before flexing her fingers. "Yeah. They're claws. That's why I wear fingerless gloves- they just shred the material otherwise, and I don't really like the material of irken gloves." She'd tried claw caps once, but they were meant for animals a lot smaller than her, so she just filed them down most of the time. They _were _useful in fights, though, so he had the right idea checking for mutations, and handcuffing her. (Although the tranquilizers on top of the rope and the cuffs _were_ absolutely overkill. She was _twelve,_ not some terminator. Unfortunately, she didn't have an extra pair of arms or anything, as cool as that would be.)

"Can I see your eyes again?"

She took a moment to breathe in and out before sliding her goggles up on her forehead. It took a few seconds- her whole face was greased with sweat, and it made them sticky and created a little popping noise when they came off. Dib immediately leaned in _way _too close, with terrible morning breath and wide eyes made wider by the glasses. She scrambled back, feeling the overall denim shoved against her back by the arm of the couch as she pressed herself against it. "Not that close!"

"Come on, I just wanted to see!" he practically pouted. "I never get this close to Zim without his disguise except during fights, and I can't really _look_ then!"

She pulled her goggles back down and narrowed her eyes at him. "Try again later, this Twix is starting to run out of patience."

Dib started talking a little faster, knowing his time for questions at the moment was wearing thin. "Can I ask about the memories?"

She crossed her arms. "Depends on which one."

"In the lab. You were with Dad. My dad, I mean- Professor Membrane. He knows about you?"

Twix nodded. "Uh-huh. Apparently, he thought it was good you were taking responsibility for your little experiment when I was born."

_"Nebula, dear, pass me that screwdriver would you?"_

_She grabbed it, handing it over with five-year-old hands. "What're you doin' anyway?"_

_He turned away, and from the motion of his arm he'd begun screwing something. "Well, I'm working on the brain of a maidbot. The last one turned homicidal, if you can believe it! The line between obedience and insanity is **so** thin. Your father being a prime example." He held out his other hand enough for her to see, the wrist rotating to accent his words as he talked. "He was a lost cause when he was a child, but!" The index finger pointed upwards. "He saw my side of things when he grew up and I suggested he earn his keep by finding something he **wanted** to do here in the Lab. He turns in such excellent work most of the time, it just took a bit for him to come around."_

_She wasn't really sure what any of that meant. "I like brains. They're squishy."_

_He laughed at then, turning to face her again. "You're a clever little girl too. I'm sure you'll enjoy working here one day, with the parents you have. Just keep your eyes set on a better tomorrow here on Earth and not off in some spaceship, and you'll do just fine!" _

Twix shook her head, clearing out the memory. As she did, her eye caught the tape recorder, and the edges of the memory curled like paper in a fire. Before she could consider it any further, though, Dib yawned, and she raised an eyebrow.

"How long have you been up?"

"You knocked me out at about… it was before dawn." Dib started counting on his fingers. "I think it was like four or five last night when you fell asleep on the couch and I took your goggles off. I woke up at about five-thirty in the morning yesterday…"

"-And your body's still adjusting to the vampire bee thing," Twix finished. "You need sleep."

"Oh man, with the memory machine I almost forgot about that." Dib immediately stuck a finger in his mouth, running it over his teeth before popping it back out again and wiping it on his pants. "Ugh, they're sore. _This'll_ be fun to deal with. Hey, how much sleep do _you _need? I don't think Zim sleeps that much, the lights are usually on when I check on him at night. Although he's fallen asleep in class once or twice..."

She shrugged. "It varies. Sometimes I go a day or two without it and sleep for like twelve hours, sometimes I just take lots of little naps. It was easier to just adjust to your schedule." At that, she yawned herself. "I don't think dealing with two different kinds of tranquilizers is helping with that."

To his credit, Dib looked a tad sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I was being thorough, alright?"

"Yeah, I get it, but... still." She swished saliva around in her mouth- not getting the chance to brush her teeth was catching up with her. "You're just lucky my body's used to them from all the surgery or you might have had a corpse on your hands. _Then_ what would you tell the Eyeballs?"

"...Right," Dib said, and- was that _color_ on his cheeks? Sheesh, he must be more tired than she thought if he was actually flushing in embarrassment. "How are we going to do this?"

"Am I not in the sleeping bag again?"

He took a breath. "No. I get that you had a reason for lying, but that was huge, and you're still related to Zim, and I don't want you in my room."

"Blunt." She crossed her arms, and he rolled his eyes.

"You'd do the same if you were me. You can take the couch. Gaz is going to be at school, we just need to set an alarm to wake up before she gets back and you'll be fine." Dib hopped off the couch, heading over to the oven and setting the timer on it for 6 hours. "It's 8:00 right now, so that'll be enough. I'm going up to my room. Don't touch anything in the lab, I'll find out."

Twix nodded, grabbing the blanket wadded up at the end of the couch. It wasn't worth arguing over right now. "Good- not night. Morning? That sounds weird."

"I know what you mean." Dib nodded, yawning again before climbing up the stairs. Twix settled herself down, peeling her goggles off and setting them on the coffee table before curling up on the couch.

It smelled like grease and pizza, and she hugged the blanket tight before exhaustion took her.


	16. Broken Glass

CRASH!

Twix was jolted awake, antennae shooting straight up, by a noise somewhere behind her. She pushed herself up on the couch, to see... mostly purple blurs. Right. It took a few moments for her to blearily grope around before grasping the band of her goggles and pulling them back on. After a few seconds of adjustment, she leaned on the arm of the couch, one leg still covered by the blanket.

Dib was in the kitchen. The alarm on the stove still had half an hour to go, and Dib was on the floor, sans trench coat, with cuts all up his arm from a jar of… she squinted. Honey. Right. Vampire bee incident. Twix slid off the couch, jogging over.

"Uh, Dib-Dad?"

He hissed at her, no glasses on his face and eyes narrowed to slits as he stuffed three fingers in his mouth, yellow and red smeared over his lips. _**"Mine!" **_His voice had a buzz to it, and when he bared his teeth, she could see the canines were longer. At least she thought? Maybe? It was kind of hard to tell, she was pretty sure he'd always had weird teeth even in the couple of days before this. He'd been tainted with paranormal encounters _way _before she came around anyway.

Honestly, this whole scene would have been lot creepier if it _hadn't _been the middle of the day and the blinds _weren't _open, because as it was, it was plenty bright out. If this had happened at midnight it'd be way worse. It was the stuff you _couldn't _see that was usually a lot worse than what you could.

"I'm not taking the honey." She held up her hands. "All yours." He narrowed his eyes for a moment before deeming her truthful and went back to the jar- or rather, the mess of glass that _used _to be a jar. Geez, how deep had she been in sleep to not hear him come downstairs before he dropped it? He was picking the honey up with his bare hands, and- okay, the floor was pretty gross to be eating _anything_ off of, much less something as sticky and viscous as honey.

Twix rummaged around in her pocket, produced the final bottle of honey from yesterday, then tore the wrapper off with her teeth and tossed it to him. "Here, take this one." Dib sniffed at it before holding the bottle close, squeezing it while sucking on the end as she looked around. "Where's the broom?"

Dib pointed over to the closet in the corner. So he was sane enough to know where stuff was, that was good. Good to know. After a moment of thought, Twix hurried over to the door where she'd kicked off her boots and pulled them on. She grabbed the broom and a dustpan, and the honey in the bottle must have tasted better than the jar stuff, because he allowed her to sweep up the mess of glass, blood, and honey, even as red trickled down his bare arms. "You know, if anyone told me I'd be babysitting my own dad last week, I'd judo flip them," she muttered, poking him with the sweepy-part just as his eyes started to clear. "Or at least expect it had to do with some kind of baby-inator."

He blinked rapidly, before looking down and yelping, dropping the half-empty bottle. "Gah!"

"Welcome back." Twix leaned against the broom. "Feeling better?"

"What _happened?"_

"Guess you wanted honey." She held up the dustpan, now a thoroughly sticky gelatinous orange-ish mess with the gooey honey streaked with red. His eyes widened even more, darting between the sticky floor and her hand before he rubbed his forehead and smeared some of the goo in his hair.

"I went to bed, and my stomach hurt a little but I didn't think much of it, then… I just woke up like this."

"Yeah, you must have just needed more of it." Twix nodded, kneeling down. "Go take a shower, I'll mop this up. If you need my help wrapping your arms up, just tell me."

Dib bit his lip before nodding and pushing himself up, clearly spooked considering how easily he listened. It was probably like the time she'd been possessed by a ghost on accident- she'd just been in the main lab one minute, and the next, she'd been holding a knife over Gir. Apparently, about five hours had passed, and at some point, the spirit had broken her wrist. That hadn't been fun. Losing control like that was always a scary prospect, especially if you aren't prepared for it. (The time Dad had asked her to help with a séance for a nice ghost and they'd shared her body for a few minutes to just talk with Dad had been _much_ nicer, even though she'd had the shivers for hours afterwards.)

The mop was in the same place as the broom, luckily. After washing the gunk off the dustpan with the extendo-part of the sink's faucet, she finished mopping up the sticky bits, glanced over at the trail of blood droplets over the living room and up the stairs, and sighed. _Man,_ she missed the Computer, he could do this in seconds. And she missed Papa, who never let the base stay messy for long. Her lung-approximations were decent, especially compared to her stomach, eyes, and antennae, but her nose still tickled from the dust and dirt the longer she stayed here, and she wasn't about to deep-clean the whole place.

Twix put the mop and broom back, crossing the living room to examine the ghost plant. It had started drooping a little, so she watered it with a cup and rubbed some of the red blood that had gotten on her fingertips into the soil before carefully turning the dirt over and rotating the pot. "Come on, little Phyll, I can't lose you already," she mumbled. "I was going to-"

"Uh- Twix?"

Twix looked up to see Dib. His wet hair scythe had drooped down to the side of his head, and he looked fairly pathetic, especially as he held up his arms covered in band-aids and tan bandages. "I can't get it around my right arm without it getting all sticky and I'm about to run out, so I don't want to waste it."

"Sure." She straightened her back, making her way up the stairs and towards him, and he turned around, heading back to the bathroom. When she followed, she winced at the blood dripped all over the counter and the spilled container of painkillers that had little white pills starting to soak up the red. "You're not- dizzy or anything right? You cleaned it up so it won't get infected? There was probably honey on the glass that sliced you up and you don't want that in your bloodstream. Although maybe it wouldn't be _that_ bad with the bee thing?" She shrugged. "Better safe than sorry."

"Yeah, I cleaned it up, I've been sliced up before. Zim had a buzzsaw thing once, I was lucky I escaped with my limbs intact on that one." He sat down on the toilet as she peeled the loose bandages off, biting back a hiss. The ends of his fingers curled, twitching as she worked. Trying not to say anything, most likely. She carefully dried around the cuts before replacing the bandages with new ones over the gauze.

"Yeesh. Sounds dangerous."

"It was! I had to go to the counselor after, they…" he trailed off, clearing his throat. "Anyway, all it took was throwing a rock into the engine and it blew up, and it took Zim four days to get back to skool, so I counted it as a victory. I think he had to regenerate his limbs."

Twix pressed the sticky end of the bandage down, clicking her tongue. "Yeah, that one definitely went to you. Hey, maybe you can use this as your excuse for missing skool- some mechanical accident cut your arms up."

"Ugh, I'm gonna have to go back tomorrow, aren't I?" Dib groaned, head slumping back. She nodded.

"Yeah, if what the secretary lady said is any indication. I can take care of myself, I'll just… I don't know, watch TV or something."

"Daytime TV is so _boring_, though."

"Somehow I'll survive," she said, standing up. "If you can give me some instructions, maybe I can help with the ship by sorting the parts or starting to put some of the easier ones in."

"I'll see how far we get tonight," Dib replied, easing himself off the toilet. "You can go get whatever we need from the store too- I'd rather have extra honey then have _that_ happen again when there isn't any in the house."

She nodded. "Got it. I'm going to want some for myself anyway."

"What time is it?"

"Uh… it was like 1:15 when you were downstairs, so it's probably 1:30?"

"Alright, we've got plenty of time, then." Dib started to stretch, before all the blood flooded his face when he tried to move his arms. "Alright, _you're_ going to learn how to put some of those parts in today," he said with a pained, tinny undertone to his voice.

"Doesn't… I don't know, doesn't Grandpa have something to help heal your arms in the lab?"

"Yeah, but I used up most of it about a week ago and haven't gone to get more." Dib sucked in a deep breath and let it out. "I'll manage. I heal pretty fast."

"Riiight." Twix raised an eyebrow. "Well, whatever that is, you didn't give it to me. I always had to get healed in the tube after surgery."

"The… tube?"

"A healing pod, don't- don't you have one of those?" She blinked. "Is… that a Zim thing? I know it was in the lab, but you had one at this house too, and I thought you've mentioned it before."

"That's either a Zim thing or a future thing," Dib said, wiggling his fingers. "Possibly both, if there's one here too. Well, we don't have one here _now,_ so I'll deal. While we work, I'll just use a recorder for my questions. I'll see you in the garage in a few minutes."

"Alright." That sounded reasonable, and that way he wouldn't have to write. She still had the option of turning down questions.

Dib headed back to his room, and Twix slid down the banister and grabbed a soda from the fridge before being met out by the driveway. He'd pulled his coat back on and had a big blue tape recorder in one hand.

"Alright, instruct me." She twirled a wrench in her fingers like it was a very tiny bo-staff.

"Okay, so that part that kind of looks like an X?" Twix picked it up, and he nodded. "Put that under the bright purple one and twist until it clicks."

"Got it." She followed his instructions, perking up when it worked. "What next?"

"I get a question for every piece."

"Every other piece."

"Fine." He settled down on the pavement. "The big one that kind of looks like a big soda cup? The flared end goes down, towards the ground. It goes between the X and the purple thing."

Twix stuck her tongue out, hands shaking a little as she maneuvered it into the space before it clicked. "This seems… less hard than I thought."

"Yeah, irken engineering seems pretty concerned with being idiot-proof, probably because an intergalactic empire needs a lot of people to be able to fly between planets and thus able to fix their own ships." Dib shrugged, before hitting the record button as Twix took a sip of her soda. "Now. How were you made? DNA in a tube, or…" His eye twitched. "Zim didn't lay eggs in my stomach or something? _Please_ tell me he didn't-"

Twix immediately spat out the soda into a splatter on the driveway, sputtering. "Wh-what? No, of course not! Eggs were _not_ involved!" What was she, a bird? Yeah, Zim had told her irkens had used eggs _hundreds of years _ago, but- ugh, that just sounded weird, and cramped. Not _good_ weird, either. And it certainly wasn't Dib!

Dib sagged down a bit in relief. "Oh, thank god. So it _was_ a tube or something."

"Oh, no, it wasn't that either." She leaned against the Voot. "…I'm realizing now that I say that, I probably shouldn't tell you what it actually _was_." He would probably think that was _also_ weird. She'd seen the footage, though. It was kind of neat to see how she'd grown inside of Zim over the months, even though the birth one was weirdly dark and staticky and the volume had gotten all jacked up from Zim's screaming.

"Okay, so it wasn't eggs, and it wasn't in a tube… what, a surrogate or something? No, Zim would never trust someone else to do something like that. I probably wouldn't either, for that matter. Unless he just kept somebody in stasis for 9 months? Nah, even an alternate version of me would never allow that unless they were already dead or something, and that's just gross." Dib tapped his chin. "I guess he could have just… spliced you from a kidnapped baby? But no, you're pretty clearly a mix of both of us, and I don't think you can just wipe out everything else."

"He doesn't kidnap babies." Twix said flatly. "Babies are kind of useless when you can get much better test subjects elsewhere. Plus they're loud and messy." She paused. "Well, I mean, I guess Gir has eaten a few of them. He wasn't allowed alone in rooms with me until I was five, though. I'm only now realizing that was probably connected."

"I don't know why they didn't deactivate that little robot. He's kind of broken, isn't he? And I'm not _touching _the rest of that."

"Eh." She shrugged. "Maybe a _little_ broken, but he's just Gir. I'm used to him."

"So you're not going to just tell me?" Dib asked.

"Nope."

"Will you if I guess?"

"You can try." She folded her arms, taking another sip of the soda. He had to work for this one.

"What else could it be…" Dib bounced his leg. "I think I've got most of them. Does Zim… I think I heard him mention a robot arm at some point. Is his species just put together from parts, already full-grown?"

Twix shook her head.

"Ugh. Although I've seen him bleed and stuff, it'd be dumb to make robots bleed, that's just a waste of resources. Hmm." He chewed on his lower lip. "You were a little kid in some of those memories from how far from the ground you were and how tiny your arms and legs were, so you've definitely grown up and weren't just made already twelve."

"You're kind of missing the obvious one." How had he _not_ guessed it? He was supposed to be smart.

"_Nothing_ with this- okay, yeah, to be fair, a lot of stuff with Zim is obvious," Dib muttered. "He literally shouts out his plan at me half the time. Obvious, obvious… changeling? No, that's _way _too risky to deal with the fae for a baby when he could science one up, I know he does weird animal experiments." Dib started chewing on his thumbnail. "Wait. No." He looked up at her, eyes the size of balloons. _"No."_

"What?" Twix raised an eyebrow, and Dib moved a hand over his stomach, making a rounded shape. She grinned, and he gagged.

"Gross, gross, gross!"

Her grin widened. "Congratulations, you win the prize of _knowledge."_

"It- it's at _least_ Zim, right? It wasn't me, though some experiment-"

"Yeah, it was Zim." She took another sip of her soda. "Apparently irkens can reproduce through biting and swallowing blood. I have a mouthguard for whenever I want to start dating in case that's how it works for me too. I'm waiting for that, though."

Dib actually… relaxed a little at that? Huh. "Oh. _Oh._ That- makes more sense, actually."

"What else would it be?" she asked, and he stared at her.

"You know what? I'm leaving that to my future or alternate self to explain instead of the fuzzy video Dad popped in on my birthday a few months ago to celebrate me 'almost reaching teenagerhood'." He made air quotes, then cleared his throat. "So. The muffler actually goes on next…"

Over the next few hours, Twix managed to get about a third of the parts that were left back on the ship, but some didn't quite fit, even when Dib did it himself- apparently, the Voot had been modified in the future _just_ enough that the parts didn't transfer perfectly. Dib was pretty sure he could make new ones from the ones they had, but it was going to take some extra time.

She really hoped that time wasn't passing the same here as it was in her present, because she'd take perpetually being a week older than she should be over being missing without warning for a week straight. Her parents would probably tear half the city up looking for her- although she was almost certain they had a tracker in her somewhere. In that case, they probably thought she was dead. _That_ made her shiver.

The questions Dib asked ranged from the big (Does the Armada ever invade Earth? Yeah, kinda, and she refused to elaborate further no matter what he bribed her with) to the small (What's your favorite kind of pizza topping? Gummy bears) to everything in between (Had _she_ ever been to the Crazy House? Nope, but she'd been stuck in a crazy bucket. Twice.).

Gaz came home at 3:45. An hour after that, Dib just ordered a pair of pizzas for dinner, so they could have some left over for later. Gaz emerged from her room and took one of the boxes out to the couch when the delivery boy showed up. Admittedly, it was kind of neat to see a retro Gameslave 2 when Twix poked her head in to see what she was doing. They were up to Gameslave 40-something, in Twix's time- a new one came out every six months.

At a few minutes to eight, Dib plopped down on the couch next to Gaz. "We're watching Mysterious Mysteries."

Gaz just made a grunt that Twix was pretty sure was either 'I don't care' or 'sure, sounds good'. Either way she didn't move to stand up or to shove Dib off the couch, so it probably didn't matter. Twix eased herself between Dib and the couch arm, not wanting to risk getting too close to Gaz.

She liked her in the future, really, she did, but _that_ had also come after a lifetime of camaraderie, and she'd seen how Gaz treated people she didn't know or didn't like. Twix wasn't about to test that.

The episode was about Nessie. Dib decided that she was some kind of ancient dinosaur that had been awoken by pollution and activity near the Loch. Twix thought she was just a really, really mutated whale. Gaz didn't seem to have an opinion.

"Come on, how could a whale have a neck like that?"

"I told you, she was probably mutated as a calf, maybe it got stuck on something-"

"So. Zim-girl." Gaz looked up, and Twix stopped mid-sentence.

"Yeah?"

"What are you here for?" She tilted her head to the side, just slightly.

"It really _was _an accident. I was messing with the Voot. Dib's helping me get back to my time."

"Huh. And you really _are _his daughter, I assume, considering you aren't currently gagged and having your skin scraped off with a kitchen knife."

"Gaz! I _told _you, you walked in at a weird moment that time!" Dib protested. Twix slowly turned to stare at him, and he gave a helpless shrug.

Gaz turned back to her game. "Hey, don't blame me when the last I saw of her before class this morning was you dragging her by rope to the backyard covered in pink vomit." Twix winced. Hard to believe it hadn't even been a day. Then, though, Gaz smiled to herself. "Figures he'd end up with the one person who can stand him for any amount of time."

"Gaz!" Dib turned away, crossing his arms.

"Anyway, I just wanted to make sure Zim wasn't about to bust through the window trying to rescue her in a Delorean or something, we just got it fixed from last month."

"Stupid clowns," Dib muttered.

"No, he's not. I don't think." Twix started bouncing her leg. "If he could have, he probably would have by now? It's been days, and I'm pretty sure they've got a tracker in me somewhere, although if it works across time is _anyone's _guess. It's kind of up to us to fix this if they haven't shown up by now, at least. Although it might make _some _things a lot easier, really, since… oh." Gaz had completely stopped paying attention, considering the little beeps from the Gameslave. Or if she was still listening, she wasn't keen on continuing the conversation.

Twix settled down on the couch again as the first episode ended. Bringing the idea of them being worried up made her hug herself. Outside, crickets chirped as the ship sat half-finished. One foot in front of the other. She'd get home.

* * *

A/N: I've started uploading side-ficlets in the aip universe to ao3, so if you want to check those out, they're under 'AIP Ficlet Collection' on my account there, which is shadowofthelamp. They jump all over the timeline from baby Twix to her as an adult.


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